Geistertagebuch

Kapitel 18

The person who saved her was her father.

But now, in this desolate desert, who can she expect to come and save her?

Just as despair was about to overwhelm her, suddenly the coffin lid burst open with a whoosh. Dim sunlight streamed in, and she instinctively shielded her eyes with her hand, but through the blur, she saw a figure. A dark figure stood outside the coffin, coldly watching her.

His eyes were fierce, like those of a wild beast.

Yin Li exclaimed in surprise and sat up abruptly, only to find herself still in the archaeological team's spacious tent, where all around was so quiet that she could only hear her own breathing.

She trembled. Why? Why could she only hear her own breathing? Shouldn't there be two people in this tent?

She turned around and saw that the spot where Qin Wen had been lying was empty, with only two blankets left to be used as a mat on the sand.

"Xiao Wen?" Yin Li was startled and quickly touched the spot where she had been lying; it was ice cold.

A chill ran through her; she knew something must have happened to Qin Wen. If she had only gone out to use the restroom and hadn't been gone long, the blanket should still be warm. But now…

"Xiaowen!" She rushed out of the tent. The camp was quiet, and she could faintly hear the snoring coming from the men's tents.

"Xiaowen! Where are you? Xiaowen!" Yin Li was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, calling out loudly. The lights in the tent gradually came on, and Chen Qiang, Professor Li, and the young man named Xiao Tan ran out while putting on their clothes, asking, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Professor, Xiaowen has gone missing!" Yin Li said urgently.

"What?" Upon hearing that Qin Wen was missing, Professor Li's eyes, which had been half-asleep, suddenly widened. "Xiao Wen is missing? When did this happen?"

"I don't know either. She was gone when I woke up." Yin Li was almost frantic. Professor Li quickly said, "Xiao Yin, don't worry. Let's split up and look for her. Maybe she just went to the bathroom..."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." A male voice rang out. Yin Li knew who it was without even realizing it. She turned around and angrily demanded, "What do you mean?"

The speaker was Situ Xiang, with Jack and Lao Si beside him. No one knew when they had appeared, or even heard their footsteps.

“What I mean is…” Situ Xiang’s face was grim, “Shan Hu has also disappeared.”

Yin Li gasped. Zhang Yuanyuan and Bai Yunning, having finished dressing, stepped out of the tent. Hearing this, Zhang Yuanyuan sneered and said sarcastically, "I thought something had happened. Turns out they eloped. Everyone, quickly look for them and see if they've lost any valuables."

Yin Li turned around abruptly and glared at her fiercely. She stiffened, and the words that were about to come out of her mouth became stuck in her throat. She had no choice but to swallow them back.

Author: wangqianxian Reply Date: 2007-06-19 18:29:00

Even long afterward, Zhang Yuanyuan would still feel lingering fear when she recalled that look. She couldn't imagine that a gentle-looking little girl could have such a terrifying gaze, as if an extremely sharp knife had pierced her heart.

"When did Shanhu go missing?" Yin Li asked Situ Xiang.

"I don't know, he disappeared after we woke up."

"Have you searched the entire Stone Forest?"

"certainly."

Yin Li frowned, the dream she had just had suddenly flashed through her mind, and she involuntarily looked towards the ruins of Princess Zhaoling's tomb in the distance. Countless pillars stood in the night, and a sense of desolation and gloom swept over her heart in an instant.

She turned around abruptly and said coldly to Situ Xiang, "Listen to me, you're not strict with your subordinates. If anything happens to Xiaowen, I will absolutely not let you off the hook!"

Situ Xiang kept a gloomy face until a long time before finally saying, "Let's find it first."

Yin Li glared at him, then turned and ran towards Princess Zhaoling's tomb, leaving her hurried footprints on the loose sand.

Xiaowen. She prayed silently to all the gods in the world, hoping you would be alright!

When everyone climbed down the rope ladder into the main burial chamber, they could hardly believe their eyes.

The spacious tomb chamber was splattered with bright red blood. A corpse lay in front of the jade coffin, its body a bloody mess. From a distance, all that could be seen was a mushy mass of flesh. Yin Li could hardly believe that it was still a person.

Because of poor air circulation, the air was filled with a rusty, sweet smell that wafted directly into people's mouths and noses, almost suffocating them.

Yin Li carefully took a few steps forward, and after just one glance at the corpse, she immediately gasped, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.

A large hand caught her waist at just the right moment. She turned around and saw a chilling light flashing in those icy green eyes.

For a long time, those green eyes were like a lake, without a ripple. But now, they were like a stormy sea, with huge waves rolling up. The waves flew in the air like snowflakes, and Yin Li could almost hear the booming sound of the waves hitting the rocks, which hurt her eardrums.

Yin Li knew that he was angry, like a lion whose cub had been hunted and killed. He stood up, his brown fur trembling, and roared, causing all the beasts in the world to fear and submit.

Situ Xiang had never been so angry. His brother had been killed, the brother who had always admired him and respected him as an elder brother had been killed! And the death was so cruel, with pieces of flesh being cut off from his body, even the flesh on his face was not spared. But from his wide-open mouth and eyes, one could still see the kind of pain he had endured before his death.

Even as he was being torn to pieces, he remained alive and conscious!

Situ Xiang felt his blood boiling, his world shaking violently, the earth trembling. Yin Li, in his arms, deeply felt the grief and indignation surging from his body like a current, causing the temperature in the entire tomb to drop abruptly.

The second victim finally appeared. Yin Li looked up and saw the painting of King Shibi cutting off his own flesh to save the pigeons. In the painting, King Shibi's expression was calm, without any pain. However, the actual corpse that had been dismembered was right in front of everyone. The pain emanating from his body made even a hard-hearted person like Jack change color.

At that moment, she suddenly remembered Xiaowen, her face turning pale. She broke free from Situ Xiang's grasp and anxiously looked around, but there were no other corpses. Only… the jade coffin was open.

Yin Li rushed over like a madwoman. Inside the coffin lay a beautiful woman, dressed in a modern T-shirt and jeans—it was Qin Wen.

"Xiaowen!" she screamed, quickly helping her up from the coffin and checking her pulse. Fortunately, she still had a heartbeat, but her whole body was burning hot, as if she had just taken a sauna.

"How is she?" A voice sounded behind her. Yin Li turned around in surprise and saw that it was Jack who spoke. She stared at him with wide eyes, finding it hard to believe that he would care about Xiao Wen.

"I asked you how she is." Jack's face was slightly pale, but his voice was cold.

Yin Li did not answer, but took Qin Wen's pulse again, her expression shifting between light and dark.

"It seems I was wrong." After a long silence, she slowly said, her brows furrowed into a deep frown. "I originally thought Xiaowen just had heatstroke; her pulse and symptoms were very similar to those of heatstroke. I never expected... that..."

"So what happened?" Jack pressed, his gaze falling on Qin Wen, who was being supported by Yin Li. The way she slept really resembled Stanlia, not just in appearance, but in spirit. He almost had the illusion that the person in front of him was the master he had longed for for many years.

"She's probably been poisoned!" Yin Li said, her tone heavy. "I've never seen this kind of poison before, and the symptoms are so similar to heatstroke..."

"Poisoned?" Situ Xiang exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that Shan Hu was also poisoned?"

"What do you mean?" Yin Li asked quickly.

“Mountain Tiger has been behaving very strangely ever since he came out of the tomb passage.” Situ Xiang felt a sharp pain in his chest as he thought of the reckless and energetic Mountain Tiger. “He had a vacant look in his eyes, didn’t eat or drink, and often sat in the car in a daze. Moreover, he also…” He paused slightly, his eyes becoming extremely complicated.

"Give back what?" Yin Li asked anxiously.

"He would often talk to himself, calling Qin Wen's name." Situ Xiang couldn't understand why Shan Hu was behaving like an inexperienced young man, so infatuated with Qin Wen. This was completely out of character for him. Now that he thought about it, it must be that unknown poison at work.

"The Exquisite Aperture?" Before he could finish speaking, Yin Li exclaimed, "Impossible! How could such a thing still exist now! Impossible!"

"The Exquisite Aperture?" The crowd looked at each other, wondering what this was.

"Linglongqiao is a drug that was introduced to the Central Plains from the Western Regions," Yin Li explained to everyone in an incredulous tone. "The earliest record of this drug dates back to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. It was brought over by merchants from the Western Regions. Legend has it that it has a strange effect, which can amplify a person's inner desires infinitely, causing them to lose their mind and do things against their nature. It can even manipulate other people's words and actions when used in combination with another substance. However, the method of making Linglongqiao is extremely insidious and has been banned by the imperial court for generations. It was lost by the mid-Western Han Dynasty. How could it exist now? There must be a mistake! There must be a mistake!"

"Insidious?" Jack interjected. "How so?"

Yin Li glanced at him and said, "It requires the hearts of thirty-six boys and forty-nine girls as a medicinal ingredient, along with fifty-six kinds of precious rare flowers and herbs, to be placed in a thousand-year-old bronze cauldron for refining. The heat must be precise, and fresh human blood must be continuously added during the refining process, continuing for eighty-one days. Before opening the furnace, a beautiful woman of noble status must be offered as a sacrifice and thrown into the fire before the furnace can be opened. The red powder in the furnace is the Linglong Aperture. These hearts used as the medicinal ingredient must also be fresh. How could anyone kill people on such a large scale for the sake of refining elixirs! Are they really courting death?"

Everyone fell silent. Only Chen Qiang and Bai Yun Ning from the archaeological team came down. The two looked at each other, unable to say a word, and the atmosphere became extremely strange.

After a long silence, the fourth brother suddenly spoke up, saying, "Could it be that this kind of medicine was originally in the tomb?"

Yin Li was startled, her expression changing several times. She seemed to have realized something and exclaimed, "Could it be... could it be the fragrance that came from when Princess Zhaoling's veil was lifted? Yes! Ancient books say that after the 'Linglong Aperture' evaporates, it becomes colorless but has a strange, sweet and fishy fragrance, like the smell of rotten roses. Now that I think about it, that fragrance really does resemble it!"

"If this poison is so potent, why were we all unharmed when we smelled it?" The fourth brother and Shanhu, who were like brothers, were filled with rage upon seeing their brother's tragic death. They roared, "Why are we all alright? Only he died?"

"Fourth Brother!" Situ Xiang called out to stop her, a sharp pain shooting through his heart. Yin Li lifted Qin Wen from the coffin and helped her sit against it, saying slowly, "Even if the gas we inhaled was the Linglong Aperture, it's been underground for over two thousand years, so its effects would definitely have changed. Although the ancient books don't say it, common sense tells us its effects would be greatly weakened. Different people have different constitutions, so the effects would vary. Shan Hu was killed by someone, and if I'm not mistaken, the one who killed Shan Hu must have been someone else affected by the Linglong Aperture!" As she spoke, her gaze fell on Qin Wen, a hint of melancholy and worry in her eyes. "Xiao Wen was also poisoned by it, with a high fever and unconsciousness—all symptoms of poisoning. As for why that person didn't kill Xiao Wen, we don't know. If he was really just killing according to the story in the murals, wouldn't killing Xiao Wen have been just the right thing to do?"

“Maybe he wants to kill one person every day?” Jack said.

“Perhaps…” Yin Li took off her coat and put it on Qin Wen’s disheveled body. Although her clothes were tattered, at least her pants were intact, so she shouldn’t have been successfully assaulted. But if the one who wanted to assault her was the murderer, why didn’t the murderer continue?

She turned her head and glanced at the mangled corpse, but ultimately had to look away because it was too gruesome. Now it seemed there was only one explanation: Shan Hu, poisoned by the 'Linglong Aperture,' couldn't resist his inner demons and tried to assault Xiao Wen, but he was interrupted by the murderer before he could succeed.

But how many people can subdue a mountain tiger? Especially when the mountain tiger has almost completely lost its nature, and even Qin Wen, who has superb skills, cannot resist it.

She looked up and met Situ Xiang's gaze. His eyes also showed surprise after a sudden realization. There were only three people who could kill the mountain tiger: him, Jack, and Lao Si!

When they emerged from the tomb passage, everyone remained silent. Shan Hu's body was wrapped in a blanket and carried on Lao Si's shoulder, while Qin Wen was carried on Chen Qiang's back. Her body was getting hotter and hotter, and Chen Qiang couldn't help but sweat profusely.

As soon as the group came out, Professor Li and the others surrounded them. He didn't dare to look at Shan Hu's body, but anxiously glanced at Qin Wen and said, "Little Qin... is she alright?"

"Something's wrong, and it's serious." Yin Li reached out and touched her forehead, his facial muscles twitching slightly. He said, "Brother Chen, please put her down. We can't delay any longer; I need to give her acupuncture here!"

"Acupuncture?" Professor Li's face changed upon hearing this. "Little...Little Yin, you...you need to think this through...this acupuncture...can't be done carelessly. What if something goes wrong..."

"I can't worry about that now." Yin Li frowned, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. She took out a small leather bag from her shoulder bag, and then took out a piece of red cloth from the bag. She unfolded it layer by layer, revealing several silver needles of different sizes stuck inside, which gleamed with a chilling light in the moonlight.

Chen Qiang placed Qin Wen on a relatively flat stone platform. Yin Li gestured for everyone to leave, then took off the coat draped over her. Her skin was delicate and fair, and the moonlight shining on it revealed an almost snow-like whiteness.

But at this moment, Yin Li had no mind to admire Qin Wen's skin. She pulled a needle from the red cloth, and looking at it in her hand, she hesitated. Although she had memorized the acupuncture points of the human body by heart and had tried them countless times on dummies, this was the first time she had used acupuncture on a real person. Her hand trembled slightly, knowing that there were only two possible outcomes with this needle: either it would save Qin Wen's life, or it would kill her.

Fear swept through her heart like a spring breeze. She hesitated and looked at Qin Wen. Her face was pale, her body was getting hotter and hotter, and even her lips were a terrible bluish-black. If she didn't get acupuncture soon, she probably wouldn't escape death.

No! We can't delay any longer!

She gritted her teeth and thought to herself, "Grandfather, this is it, and I will definitely not let you down!"

With a flick of her wrist, the silver needle pierced Qin Wen's neck. Qin Wen suddenly opened her eyes, screamed, and then collapsed softly, closing her eyes again.

Hearing the shouts, everyone rushed over without thinking. They saw Qin Wen's face was ashen, and a stream of black blood was flowing from the corner of her mouth, running down her fair cheek and dripping onto the stone.

Jack's expression changed, and he quickly reached out to check her breath. Suddenly, he roared in fury, "She's dead! You...you killed her!"

Everyone gasped upon hearing this, and Professor Li nearly fainted from shock. Yin Li, already annoyed, yelled at him, "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand! Get out of here!"

After saying that, she pulled out a needle from the red cloth, probed her chest with her index and middle fingers, and then inserted the silver needle.

This time, Qin Wen did not wake up again. Instead, two streams of foul-smelling black blood gushed from her eyes, like tears of blood streaming down her face.

Jack panicked and threw a punch at her, yelling, "What are you trying to do?"

Before his fist could even touch Yin Li, it was caught by a large hand. He looked up and saw Situ Xiang's icy green eyes: "Jack, Miss Yin comes from a family of doctors. If you don't have any other options, don't make things worse. Besides..." He paused slightly, then said, "This matter has nothing to do with you."

Jack's expression froze, as if a fishbone was stuck in his throat, rendering him speechless. He glared at Situ Xiang, finally managing a forced smile after a long silence: "Yes, I was meddling." He stepped aside, saying nothing, just staring blankly at Qin Wen's blood-covered face. A pang of pain surged in his heart; he seemed to see that woman again, the woman he had missed for so long. Perhaps… she, like Qin Wen, was dead?

Yin Li had no time to pay attention to their argument. She was preoccupied with Qin Wen's poison. Every pore on her body was sweating profusely. She pulled out another needle. This time, she was going to apply the needle to a vital point. If there was the slightest mistake, Qin Wen would definitely not be able to recover.

She raised her head and looked at the bright moon. The moon was beautiful, as if it were a scene from another world.

For over three thousand years, her family's medical skills have been passed down for over three thousand years. Hopefully, they won't be destroyed in her hands today.

She bit her lower lip hard and plunged the needle into Qin Wen's head. A burst of black smoke immediately shot out, as fierce as car exhaust. A stench instantly filled the air, like a corpse that had been rotting for thousands of years. Everyone covered their mouths and noses and retreated, fearing that the stench might also be poisonous.

As the black mist above her head dissipated, Qin Wen finally let out a slow breath. Yin Li was overjoyed, tears almost welling up in her eyes. She reached out to take Qin Wen's pulse. Although the pulse was weak, her heartbeat had returned, and her breathing gradually became steady. The high fever that had engulfed her body gradually subsided, and her ashen face gradually regained its rosy glow.

“Xiao Wen…” Yin Li picked up Qin Wen and wiped the black blood off her face with a tissue. She cried as she said, “I have finally not let down my grandfather’s upbringing over the years. Your life has finally been saved.”

A huge weight lifted from Jack's heart at that moment, and he suddenly felt a surge of gratitude. Thank goodness, she was finally alright.

Perhaps even he himself didn't know whether his feelings stemmed from concern for Qin Wen or love for Stellia. Undoubtedly, his heart felt warmth for the first time.

"Xiao Yin, is Xiao Qin alright?" Professor Li was almost driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown by these young people, and asked tremblingly, "Has the poison in her body been neutralized?"

“There are still some residual toxins.” Yin Li thought for a moment and said, “It will take some time for her to recover with medication. Fortunately, I brought a lot of medicine with me this time, so it should be fine. Once the residual toxins are all gone, Xiao Wen will be able to wake up.”

Professor Li breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank God, thank God."