The Complete Collection of Yellow River Ghost Coffins

Chapter 32

Just as I was about to speak, the interrogation room door was suddenly pushed open. A young armed policeman walked in, whispered something in the ear of the burly armed policeman, then the burly officer gave me a cold look, stood up, and walked out. The interrogation room door slammed shut.

I thought the armed policeman had just gone out on business and would return shortly to continue his interrogation. But he didn't come, and I waited and waited, like a lovestruck man eagerly awaiting his lover's return to continue the interrogation. At least then I would know why these people had arrested me.

I waited for about an hour, but no one came. It seemed I had been forgotten by everyone. I closed my eyes, recalling every step of the arrest: these people barged into our room without saying a word. First, they subdued us; then, they started ransacking the room. But throughout the entire process, they didn't reveal their identities or ask a single question.

It was obvious these people were looking for something. But I had just retrieved the bronze sword from the tomb of King Guangchuan; they shouldn't know that. Besides, the three of us didn't seem to have anything of value on us. Moreover, these people didn't look like ordinary police officers. The reason I assumed they were armed police was because they were wearing green military uniforms. Could it be that they weren't police officers at all, but rather members of the military?

This made things complicated. I just couldn't understand how dealing in antiques could have gotten me into such trouble. I thought about it for a long time, but I still couldn't figure it out. I've spent the last few days in fear and panic, and the constant running around has left me exhausted. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep in my chair.

In a daze, I saw the professor again, his body entangled in something resembling mushy vermicelli, a狰狞恐怖 (zhengning kongbu - ferocious and terrifying) smile on his face, lunging viciously at me. Then, the professor transformed into Wang Quansheng, clutching a huge bronze bird-shaped vessel, asking if I wanted it, saying he'd kept it for me and that if I bought him drinks, he'd give me a discount. So, I bought him drinks at the young master's restaurant. Halfway through the drinks, Wang Quansheng suddenly stiffened and died right in front of me. I couldn't help but scream, then suddenly remembered—wasn't he already dead? I turned to look for the young master, but somehow, he had transformed into Old Bian, his hands rotting and deathly pale, viciously lunging at my neck.

"Ah..." I screamed in terror.

I jolted awake, sitting bolt upright, a sharp pain shooting through my wrist. I couldn't help but cry out, "Ah!" Opening my eyes, I looked around and found myself still in the interrogation room. My hands were still cuffed to the chair, painfully tight, from my struggle. I took a long breath and realized my vest was soaked with cold sweat.

"Having a nightmare?" A voice rang in my ear, startling me again. Turning around, I saw a short, stout middle-aged man in a police uniform standing beside me. However, the uniform he was wearing was a proper police uniform.

I didn't say anything, just sighed. The short, fat man turned around and sat down opposite me, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then said somewhat earnestly, "Young man, if you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear. I see you're having nightmares, so I'm afraid you've done quite a few bad things in your life!"

I sneered, and upon hearing this, I couldn't help but mutter under my breath, "That's because you've never seen a ghost, that's why you dare to say that."

"What did you say?" The short, fat man was furious upon hearing this, and suddenly slammed his fist on the table and stood up.

Since I was sitting in a chair, I immediately looked up at him. I thought to myself that I didn't need to offend him; the common people can't fight with officials. I should say a few soft words and get through this difficult time first. So I quickly put on a smiling face and said, "Officer, please don't take it personally. I was just talking nonsense. This... that... what do you want to ask? I will answer everything I know."

Upon hearing this, the short, fat man's expression softened slightly. He sat down again and coldly asked, "Xu Sanqing, do you know what crime you have committed?"

I hurriedly nodded repeatedly, saying, "Officer, I understand. I'm guilty of reselling antiques and profiting from the precious cultural relics left by our ancestors. I confess. I'm willing to hand over all my illegal gains to the national treasury." My reason for saying this was simple: reselling antiques wasn't a serious crime. After all, in Taiyuan, markets like Nangong are teeming with countless antique dealers. Could you possibly arrest them all?

Don't even mention Shanxi; even Beijing has large antique markets like Panjiayuan, where the goods are a chaotic mix of genuine and fake! If you're going to arrest antique dealers, you can't just target me. Of course, since they've come to you, you're just unlucky. A fine is inevitable; if you have a good attitude and admit your mistake, it's not a big deal.

"Why would I single out you out among so many antique dealers?" the short, fat man sneered.

To that question, I can only shake my head. How would I know why you arrested me? Do you dislike me, or is your wife secretly in love with me?

Just as the short, stout man was about to speak, the interrogation room door opened again, and two men walked in side by side. Seeing them, I couldn't help but laugh. Not out of sheer amusement, but because they were just so hilarious. One of them was tall and burly, probably over 1.85 meters tall, and was the same armed police officer who had arrested me yesterday, though now he was in civilian clothes. The other was surprisingly short; I estimated he was only about 1.5 meters tall, around forty years old, and wore thick glasses that looked like old winter cabbage roots. He swayed as he walked in.

If either of these two people walked in alone, it wouldn't be unusual. But the fact that one was tall and the other short, and they were standing together, made them look like a clown performance in a circus, which was inexplicably strange.

What surprised me even more was that the dwarf was actually holding that ancient bronze sword in his hands.

I looked at the ancient bronze sword and couldn't help but sigh. I thought back to the tomb of King Liu Qu of Guangchuan, where I wielded this ancient bronze sword and slaughtered my way through the land. But now, I fear I will never have the chance to touch that ancient sword again.

"Xu Sanqing?" the tall man said to me, his hands resting on the table.

I nodded, and the tall man pondered for a moment. His eyes flickered, as if he were considering something. After a moment, he spoke, "My name is Huang Zhihua." He then gave a long list of military ranks, seemingly some kind of officer. However, I only had an interest and talent for antiques; I knew nothing about this, only that this man was indeed a military person, not a policeman.

"Hello, Mr. Huang." I nodded to him.

"This is Professor Sun!" Huang Zhihua introduced the short old man next to me.

Upon hearing that he was a professor, I was momentarily stunned and instinctively asked, "An archaeology professor?"

“Yes!” Professor Sun nodded. “Mr. Xu is a smart man; he understands immediately.”

I shook my head. My bronze sword might fool this officer, Huang Zhihua, but it could never deceive Professor Sun, who does archaeological research.

"Are you asking about the origin of this ancient bronze sword?" I asked directly. At this point, all denial seemed pointless, and I was ready to tell the truth.

To everyone's surprise, Professor Sun sighed and said, "No, Sheng Nan has already told you about the origin of this bronze sword, so you don't need to. We just have a few questions we'd like to ask you."

Seeing his polite manner and the fact that he seemed quite familiar with the girl, I couldn't help but feel a sense of goodwill towards him. I nodded and said, "I wouldn't presume to ask for your advice, but I will certainly tell you the truth about what I know. However, could you please remove the handcuffs? I'm just an antique dealer, not some murderer."

The short, stout policeman looked at Huang Zhihua, who nodded. He then found the key and unlocked my handcuffs. I moved my slightly numb wrists, looked at Professor Sun, and gestured for him to ask. Professor Sun took out a cigarette and asked if I wanted one. I shook my head. He lit one for himself, took a deep drag, and exhaled the smoke before saying, "Everyone who came into contact with that thing is dead now. The only survivors are the three of you."

I couldn't help but exclaim "Ah!" and naturally understood that the thing Professor Sun was referring to was the Yellow River Dragon Coffin.

Huang Zhihua looked at me and said, “This matter is very serious, and the leaders attach great importance to it. To be honest, when Professor Wang discovered the tomb under the Yellow River, because of its huge scale, there weren’t enough archaeologists, and we were afraid that hiring workers would cause accidents and lose precious cultural relics, so we directly used our own people. However, everyone who participated in that project died inexplicably, and they all had the same expression on their faces after they died.”

I remained silent, waiting for them to continue. I had learned about the curse of the Yellow River Dragon Coffin from Professor Wang's diary, so I wasn't too surprised.

"I want to know, you three also came into contact with that thing, so why are you all unharmed?" Huang Zhihua placed his hands on the table, looking down at me.

That was a very impolite question; it was essentially asking, "Why aren't you all dead yet?" I thought for a moment, carefully choosing my words, before replying with a wry smile, "Perhaps, I'll be next."

Professor Sun waved to Huang Zhihua, lit another cigarette, and then said, "I heard from Shengnan that you went to the tomb of Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan, hoping to find a way to break the curse?"

I didn't deny it, and nodded in agreement. Then I couldn't help but ask, "Professor Sun, Officer Huang, do you believe in curses?"

Professor Sun said calmly that he was an archaeologist and had seen all sorts of strange things. Curses were something truly inexplicable. Huang Zhihua, a soldier, originally didn't believe in such supernatural things, but after so many deaths, he couldn't help but believe.

Huang Zhihua asked, "Have you found a way to break the curse?"

I shook my head, thinking to myself that the money was on the girl, and since she had already told me everything, what was the point of asking? Then Professor Sun said something that shocked me. He said that the strangest thing wasn't just the dead bodies. The problem was that a day after Professor Wang died, his body and another soldier, Xu Zheng, mysteriously disappeared, and Old Bian, who was in charge of shoveling sand at the time, was nowhere to be found either dead or alive.

It wasn't until this moment that I realized the girl and the young master hadn't revealed everything about the ancient tomb. I later learned that the girl's illness hadn't improved, and after being captured, she inexplicably fell into a semi-comatose state, which alarmed everyone. Now, the leadership has given orders that this bizarre death case must be thoroughly investigated.

But at that time, of those who had come into contact with the Yellow River Dragon Coffin and hadn't died, only the three of us remained. The girl fell ill and was sent to the hospital for treatment, while the young master, true to his nature of talking nonsense, managed to fool the group with a mix of truth and lies.

Therefore, Huang Zhihua and Professor Sun had no idea about Lao Bian and Professor Wang's affair. I was stunned when I heard this, and just as I was about to speak, there was a knock at the door. Huang Zhihua gestured to me, signaling me to speak. Only then did I realize that this case was actually a classified case.

The door opened, and a young policeman walked in, waving to the short, stout policeman. The short, stout policeman greeted Huang Zhihua and then left. The interrogation room door was then firmly closed again.

I sighed and asked Huang Zhihua if anyone could confirm that Professor Wang was really dead. Huang Zhihua nodded and said, "Of course someone can. After Professor Wang died, his body stayed at the funeral home for a whole day, and he disappeared that night. Nobody would be so foolish as to steal an old man's corpse. So, the professor's disappearance is very suspicious, and afterwards, the police never found his body."

Along with the professor's body, a military officer also disappeared, and also after his death... Originally, no one connected these things, but when the higher-ups decided to thoroughly investigate the case, Huang Zhihua came here and, after asking around, discovered this shocking truth.

Professor Wang's body disappeared at the same time as the military man's disappearance. I knew in my heart that the military man Huang Zhihua mentioned must be the one who died in the crevice of the rocks in Jiulongkeng. But at the same time, an indescribable fear crept into my heart. Professor Wang's deathly pale face reappeared before my eyes.

I shook my head violently and suddenly grabbed the cigarette that Professor Sun had placed on the table, but I couldn't control the trembling of my hands.

Huang Zhihua took a lighter and lit a cigarette for me. I took a deep drag, but before I could exhale the smoke, it choked me and I couldn't help but cough violently.

It took me a while to calm down before I whispered, "Professor Wang's remains are in the tomb of Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan."

"What?" Huang Zhihua jumped up suddenly, grabbed my collar, lifted me from the chair, and said fiercely, "You guys brought it over there?"

I shook my head and said, "Mr. Huang, can you calm down? You're more capable than me. Why don't you try to get those three corpses into a tomb in Peacock Mountain?"

Huang Zhihua was stunned by what I said. Indeed, no matter who it was, getting a corpse onto a train wouldn't be an easy task. I continued, "Why would I want to take Professor Wang's body to the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum? Am I out of my mind? Am I crazy?"

Professor Sun pulled Huang Zhihua aside and asked, "What exactly happened? Explain yourself clearly."

I thought about it and figured that as long as Wang Quansheng wasn't involved, there was nothing I couldn't say. As long as they believed in the curse, everything could be explained. I immediately recounted how the girl and the young master had gone to Shanghai to find me, and then I brought up Old Bian's matter.

Upon hearing this, Professor Sun also jumped up and exclaimed in surprise, "Old Bian is dead too?"

“Yes! I saw it with my own eyes,” I nodded.

Professor Sun asked me, "So, Old Bian's body is also inside the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum?" I nodded and said yes. Huang Zhihua gasped and asked me why their bodies had all ended up in the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum. I could only shake my head; how would I know the answer to that question?

"Damn it!" Huang Zhihua couldn't help but curse, saying this was really strange. How could a dead person go to the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum? Did someone take a fancy to the good feng shui of the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum? I sneered and said that the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum did indeed have good feng shui, a rare Nine Dragon Pit, the best feng shui treasure land in the world. However, to me, such a feng shui treasure land looked more like a corpse-raising treasure land.

Huang Zhihua didn't know what Jiulong Pit was, but Professor Sun, who worked in archaeology, jumped up again upon hearing this and asked in surprise, "Is there really a Jiulong Pit?"

I nodded and said, "If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself." In fact, since I had already told Professor Sun about the Guangchuan King's Tomb, Liu Qu's peace wouldn't last much longer. Archaeological experts who discovered such a large tomb wouldn't let it go easily. Sooner or later, it would be excavated, and the gold-embroidered burial suit would once again be displayed in a Chinese museum, open to visitors from all over the world.

If the Nine Dragon Pit was a bomb for Professor Sun, then when I mentioned that Professor Wang's corpse had been activated, Professor Sun could no longer sit still. His hands trembled, his legs went weak, and he actually knelt on the ground, crying out with tears streaming down his face, "Grandmaster, your disciple is so foolish..."

I never expected Professor Sun to react so strongly. I originally thought he didn't know what "corpse exhumation" meant, but it turns out Professor Sun clearly knows a lot. However, Huang Zhihua didn't know and asked me what was going on. I didn't answer and told him to ask Professor Sun.

Professor Sun was extremely agitated and it took him a long time to calm down. He explained to Huang Zhihua at length, but Huang Zhihua still seemed skeptical. After a while, he asked me if I was deliberately exaggerating, but I was too lazy to explain. After all, it's hard to believe such things without seeing them with your own eyes. If someone had told me about the Three Corpse Gods six months ago, I might not have been able to accept it either. I was puzzled; why did Professor Sun actually believe it?

I briefly recounted what happened inside the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum, and then said, "I have no other requests. I'm just an antique dealer trying to make a living. I went to the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum to save my own life. I only hope they can be lenient and let me go."

Huang Zhihua glanced at Professor Sun, who was still unable to calm down and was trembling incessantly while sitting in his chair.

“Mr. Xu, I’m afraid things are not as simple as you think,” Huang Zhihua said with a frown. “The situation is very complicated now. The higher-ups want to thoroughly investigate this case. First, they need to find the bodies of Professor Wang and the others. Second, they need to break the curse of that thing so that no more people can die. Since you are involved, I’m afraid it will be difficult for you to stay out of it.”

To find Professor Wang's remains, we need to go back to the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum. To be honest, I'm interested in antiques, but I have absolutely no interest in ancient tombs these days. And as for breaking the curse of the Yellow River Dragon Coffin, I really don't know how. All my hopes now rest on the gold and silk on the girl's body; I just hope to get some useful information from it.

I immediately shared my thoughts. Professor Sun, having finally regained a little composure, said that he had examined the gold and silk on the girl's body and that Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan, was a complete scoundrel who spoke vaguely and unclearly about everything, only mentioning something about a "golden-threaded maiden."

I naturally didn't know what the Golden Thread Maiden was, but I was curious and finally couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you open that thing?" I mimicked Huang Zhihua's tone and said, "Can you tell me what's inside that thing?"

This time, Huang Zhihua turned his attention to Professor Sun again. Clearly, Huang Zhihua did not know what was inside the Yellow River Dragon Coffin.

But that damned Professor Sun just kept puffing on his cigarette and didn't say a word. My interrogation came to an end there. I was released from the interrogation room and placed in a room that, while not a prison cell, was under surveillance even while eating and sleeping.

For two days in a row, I almost suffocated in my room, worrying about the maid and the young master, wondering how they were doing. At the same time, I was worried about the curse of the Yellow River Dragon Coffin, fearing that they might die inexplicably and not see the sun rise tomorrow morning after eating dinner.

What's worse, probably because my experience at the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum was so dangerous, I have been having nightmares.

Five days passed in this state of anxiety and unease. Then, one evening, Huang Zhihua appeared before me in a flurry of activity.

Chapter Thirteen: The Southern Crawler

Huang Zhihua cut to the chase, saying that someone wanted to see me. I was curious, because I didn't have many friends in Shanxi; the only people I knew were the young master and his maid.

Without giving me a chance to say anything more, Huang Zhihua led me outside. I asked him if there was any progress on the case, thinking it would be pointless and he would probably refuse to tell me, citing state secrets. But to my surprise, Huang Zhihua readily said that the scroll of gold and silk we brought back from the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum mentioned that the only way to break the curse was to find the Golden Thread Maiden.

I was curious, who was this Golden Thread Maiden? As I followed behind Huang Zhihua, I racked my brains trying to figure out what famous female figures in history were named "Golden Thread Maiden"? But after thinking for a long time, I still couldn't come up with a single answer.

Huang Zhihua led me into a large office. As soon as I entered, I saw the young master and the maid sitting side by side on the sofa. Upon seeing me, they both stood up. The young master waved to me first and said, "Old Xu, come here quickly."

I glanced at Huang Zhihua; after all, I was still a prisoner. Huang Zhihua nodded and smiled at me before walking over to the young master and maid.

After a few days apart, the girl's illness was clearly much better; her left eye was blinking brightly. The young master, on the other hand, was still the same as before, very happy to see me, and asked if the others had given me any trouble.

I shook my head. Although I had been handcuffed to a chair all night, I wouldn't care as long as they didn't pursue the matter. I was wondering if Huang Zhihua's comment about someone wanting to see me referred to the young master and maid. Before I could speak, Professor Sun pushed open the door and entered. He pushed up his thick glasses, walked to our side, and asked, "You two are both in the antique business. So, let me ask you something: throughout history, which person with the surname Ji was the most famous?"

To be honest, if Professor Sun weren't wearing those glasses, his short stature and slightly sleazy expression would have made him quite different from the gentle and refined professor I had in mind. But appearances can be deceiving, and I answered his question almost without thinking, "The most famous person in history with the surname Ji is naturally the Western Zhou emperor—Ji Fa."

The maid and young master nodded in agreement. Professor Sun pushed up his glasses again, frowning, and said, "It's really strange, very strange..."

"What's strange?" The three of us naturally didn't ask anything, but Huang Zhihua couldn't help but ask.

Professor Sun plopped down in his chair, sighed, and said, "I'm not Professor Wang, so I still can't figure out what those words on the back of that thing mean."

Hearing Professor Sun's words, I couldn't help but turn and look at the girl. All three of us understood that the words Professor Sun spoke of were the curse on the back of the Yellow River Dragon Coffin. If we could decipher the bird script, it would greatly help us break the curse. However, Professor Wang, the only one who knew the bird script, was already dead, and his body had mysteriously appeared in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum.

I had assumed Professor Sun would recognize the bird-script seal script, but it turns out he didn't either. His question about the character "姬" was naturally because of the maid. I discovered that one of the bronze fragments had the character "姬" on it, as the maid had said. That was a cave from the Western Zhou Dynasty, so it's not surprising to find the character "姬" there; after all, the emperors of the Western Zhou Dynasty were surnamed "姬".

Huang Zhihua said, "Didn't you go to invite your master?"

I was stunned. I hadn't expected Professor Sun to have a mentor, who must be a highly respected and knowledgeable old professor. I couldn't help but feel secretly delighted; if I could translate the bird seal script, things would be much easier.

Professor Sun remained silent, so Huang Zhihua pressed on, "Where is he? Did you bring him back?"

"I've arrived..." Just as we were speaking, the office door was pushed open. An elderly man, around seventy years old, holding a cane and walking in with the support of two people, walked in with a slight tremor.

When my young master and I saw the two men helping the old man, we were immediately dumbfounded. We actually knew these two men. One was fat, the other thin—they were none other than those two scoundrels from the south; the fat one was Hu Lai, and the thin one was Wang Ming. If it weren't for these two scoundrels, my young master and I wouldn't have had the diving equipment, nor would we have gone to the bottom of the Yellow River to search for that dragon coffin, which almost cost me my life.

While I was still holding my breath, the young master jumped up and cried out, "Grandpas, you've made me suffer so much..."

Hu Lai and Wang Ming both looked uneasy and quickly gave us meaningful glances. The young master was about to say something when I pulled him down to sit. I was thinking to myself, this old man, so old he seems barely able to walk, could he be Professor Sun's mentor? But he appeared with Hu Lai and Wang Ming—those two are notorious tomb raiders, archaeologists and grave robbers are inextricably linked—are they in cahoots?

Upon seeing the old man, Professor Sun rushed forward to greet him, respectfully helping him up. The old man settled on the sofa, while Hu Lai and Wang Ming stood beside him. These two "grandfathers" had now become his grandsons. Professor Sun served tea and was about to speak when the old man waved his hand, staring at me and saying, "Young man, such a heavy aura of death, such a strong destiny!"