El beso inolvidable de Ghost Lips

Capítulo 56

There seems to be a strong pulling force underwater, similar to the whirlpool at the entrance of the underwater tomb we saw last time.

I could only hold my breath and sink uncontrollably.

I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly, my eyes lit up. I was no longer in the water; it seemed to be a waterless space around me. The miner's lamp on my head was still on; the quality of this miner's lamp was indeed excellent.

I took a deep breath. The descent just now wasn't long, at most one and a half to two minutes... The world record for holding one's breath is seven minutes. I've always been a good swimmer, which is a natural talent, but I can only hold my breath for two minutes.

I looked up and it was really strange. The water here was perfectly calm, unlike the whirlpool in the eye of the Kunlun wind. How could it generate such a strong sinking force? Moreover, looking up, the entire surface of the water was like a mirror. I looked at my reflection, which appeared ghostly in the water under the beam of the miner's lamp above my head. At first glance, it was really scary.

Where am I? I turned around and began to examine my current situation, but after looking for a long time, I still couldn't figure it out. Just as I was hesitating about what to do, the water mirror above my head suddenly cracked in the middle, and the young master and Huang Zhihua fell down from above. Obviously, they had also entered that strange wall...

Oh... wait, I suddenly remembered Wang Quansheng's body, which I had kicked into the wall. He entered before us, and I didn't even notice him when I fell down. Did he run away again?

The thought of his large, pale face on his back sends chills down my spine.

"Old Xu... Mr. Huang..." the young master called out from the side. He was unlucky; when he sank down, he smashed the miner's lamp above his head, and his eyes hadn't adjusted yet.

"Young Master, are you alright?" Under such circumstances, Huang Zhihua, who was always well-trained, clearly showed his advantage. He pulled the young master over, held a dagger in one hand, and looked around at the surroundings with sharp eyes.

"Old Xu...are you alright?" The young master had clearly noticed me.

"I'm alright, still alive for now!" I sighed, turning my gaze back to the water mirror at the top. It was strange; why was there no water below? Why was all the water blocked above? I stood on tiptoe, trying to get a better look. The water mirror was no more than two meters away from us; I could even touch the cold groundwater. But—logically, due to Earth's gravity, water should always flow downwards! Why was there no water below? And that wall, on the surface, it looked exactly like a normal tunnel wall.

I took a deep breath and looked up at my reflection in the water mirror again. I felt as if my breath was being drawn into the mirror and amplified without limit, the echo assaulting my eardrums, making my heart sink heavily.

"Old Xu... what exactly happened?"

"How would I know?" I shook my head and smiled bitterly. I'm not the owner of this tomb, how would I know the construction principles here? If those two old men from the south were telling the truth, and the owner of this tomb was once the ancestor of another advanced civilization, then how could I, a person from thousands of years later, possibly understand all the mechanisms and settings here?

"Damn it, I'll be going there in the future, how am I going to write this report?" Huang Zhihua cursed under his breath again.

I couldn't help but laugh. It turned out that what he had been worried about all along was not being able to write the report.

“That’s easy!” the young master shouted. “Write whatever you want, haha… anyway, no one will be willing to come down and investigate.”

“I’m afraid we can’t write this down,” Huang Zhihua sighed, looked around, and then asked me which way to go. I looked down at the mud and sand under my feet. The mud and sand here were exactly the same as in the tunnel we had just been in—two parts sand and one part mud, wet but not sticky. But upon closer inspection, I was taken aback. I could clearly see that, in addition to the footprints of the three of us, there were two other rows of footprints extending forward.

Huang Zhihua also noticed the strange footprints in the mud. We looked at each other, both filled with suspicion... Were these human footprints, or something else? Were they Wang Quansheng's and the corpse driver's, or those two old men from the south?

"Old Xu!" Huang Zhihua licked his lips and said in a low voice, "How about we follow the footprints?"

After thinking for a moment, I realized that there was no other way. Instead of wandering around aimlessly, I should follow the footprints. I nodded immediately, drew my ancient bronze sword, held it tightly in my hand, and started walking forward following the footprints.

We hadn't walked a few steps forward when suddenly the space in front of us opened up. But in this pitch-black underground, even if it were open, we couldn't see anything clearly. The only difference was that our surroundings weren't as cramped as before. Just moments ago, we felt as if we were in a room, but now, it felt like we were in a wilderness.

I took out a flashlight from my backpack and shone it around, but wherever the beam of the flashlight reached, there was nothing.

Huang Zhihua took out a flare from his backpack, inserted it into the muzzle of his gun, and fired it straight ahead. The flare drew a beautiful, pale white arc in the darkness, then drifted down, emitting a pale white light in the pitch black, which was particularly dazzling. However, the area illuminated by the flare was still blank, with nothing in sight, and only darkness remained all around.

"Where is this place? Why can't we see the end?" the young master said in a low voice.

"Which way should we go?" Huang Zhihua muttered to himself.

I shone my flashlight on the ground, and the two rows of footprints were still there. Tracking was the easiest thing to do on the wet sand.

"Let's just follow the footprints," I said softly.

Following the footprints, we walked on the sand, sometimes sinking deep and sometimes sinking shallow. I don't know how long we walked, but the young master, with his sharp ears, suddenly said, "Old Xu, listen, what's that sound?"

I listened intently and whispered, "It sounds like water."

“That’s right.” Huang Zhihua nodded. “It does sound like flowing water; it should be not far ahead.” As he spoke, he pulled out another flare and placed it on the muzzle of his gun.

The flare was fired again, and this time I could see it very clearly. Not far in front of us, there was a large area of groundwater, and there seemed to be a beach by the water. What terrified me even more was that there were people on the beach!

"What is that?" the young master asked, trembling with fear.

“It looks like a person…” Huang Zhihua said in a low voice.

I shook my head, slowed my pace, and whispered, "Besides those two old men, where else can we find a living person here!" Although Huang Zhihua's flare hadn't revealed much detail, I could guarantee there were definitely more than two people on the beach...

Huang Zhihua, holding a gun, whispered, "You two be careful, heavens... so many..."

He didn't say what he was going to say, but the young master and I both understood that so many unclean things were not far from the beach. The sound of water was getting closer and closer, and we could see the beach ahead with our miners' lights. Sure enough, it was similar to the Yellow River Longtan outside. Not far ahead was the surging groundwater. Strangely, the groundwater here was not as calm as the groundwater we had seen before. It was very similar to the Yellow River outside, and seemed to be rushing.

The entire beach was right in front of us, and we were even standing on the sand, but we didn't see a single person. It was as if the shadowy figures we had just seen had vanished in an instant...

"Where is he?" the young master asked me in a low voice.

I thought the miner's lamp wasn't bright enough, so I took out a flashlight from my backpack and looked at the turbid groundwater rushing onto the beach in the distance. There was still nothing on the surface of the water...

I don't know why, but when I saw this, I suddenly felt an indescribable sense of familiarity, as if I had been here many, many years ago, or as if memories that had been sealed away for thousands of years suddenly... reappeared in an instant.

I put away the flashlight, gently drew the ancient bronze sword, took off my gas-proof plastic gloves, and pressed my palm tightly against the bronze texture that had existed for thousands of years. I could clearly feel the deep imprints of its flaws and imperfections etched into my flesh...

"Old Xu, there's something on the water..." the young master said in a low voice, his eyes sharp.

I didn't say anything. Under the light of the miner's lamp above my head, I could see clearly that something was floating on the water. It was a dark, rectangular object that looked like a piece of driftwood. But we both knew that driftwood would never appear in this place. This was the underground world, and everything that appeared here was definitely not normal.

“It looks like a piece of wood…” Huang Zhihua said in a low voice.

Wood? A thought flashed through my mind, and I couldn't help but recall the round wooden coffin we found hanging in mid-air when we entered the tomb. Could it be that—the coffin was thrown into the water by Huang Zhihua with a barrage of explosives? And this is the groundwater we discovered?

It makes sense. With the same groundwater and the same tomb chamber, where could you find another underground lake of such immense size? How big is the entire Shadow Kunlun Eye? Could it possibly contain such a massive underground lake?

The round object drifted slowly towards us with the current. The three of us stood there dumbfounded, watching it inching closer to the shore.

As it approached the shore, the three of us finally saw it clearly. Sure enough, it was a large log. In fact, it was the log coffin we had seen earlier. On the surface of the coffin, there was even that unique ghost-face mushroom, which was grinning at us eerily.

"Should we bring it up?" the young master asked me in a low voice.

I'm almost certain that this log is the same log coffin we saw in the tomb chamber above, the one suspended in mid-air by iron chains. I remember clearly that when we tried to open the coffin, we accidentally triggered a mechanism, and as a result—we all fell into the underground lake. Could it be that the log coffin also fell down?

The round wooden coffin had slowly floated to the shore with the groundwater and came to rest on the beach. I gave Huang Zhihua a wink and told the young master to be careful before cautiously walking towards the round wooden coffin.

As I approached, in the beam of the miner's lamp overhead, I could clearly see deep marks at both ends of the log coffin, clearly from being strangled by iron chains—confirming that this log coffin was the same one from above. I took out a hemp rope from my backpack, looped it around the coffin, and handed one end to Huang Zhihua. I called to the young master, and the three of us worked together, finally managing to drag the log coffin ashore.

The young master plopped down on the ground, panting heavily, and said, "Everyone says coffins are heavy, but now I know this coffin is no ordinary heavy one."

I couldn't be bothered with that outspoken young master. I looked down at the round wooden coffin. I wondered what kind of wood it was. It was a huge piece of wood. It must have taken hundreds or thousands of years for a tree to grow to such a size.

Both ends of the coffin were probably sawed open, but the wood grain was no longer visible, just a dark black mess. The young master, wearing plastic protective gloves, touched both ends of the coffin and frowned, saying, "Old Xu, this is really strange. Could it be that preservatives were applied to both ends of this coffin?"

I rolled my eyes at him, annoyed, and said, "Have you ever seen people in ancient times use preservatives?"

Huang Zhihua interjected, "I originally absolutely did not believe that ancient people used preservatives, but now I have no choice but to believe it."

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

"Old Xu, are you confused?" Huang Zhihua pointed at the round wooden coffin and said, "Look at it yourself. The bark and wood grain on the surface of this coffin are intact. There is no paint or anything to protect it. How can a piece of wood be kept so well after thousands of years without preservatives?"

Under the beam of the miner's lamp overhead, I could see very clearly that the texture of the bark on the round wooden coffin was clearly discernible, and there were no signs of decay. It definitely did not look like something that had been submerged in water for thousands of years.

A piece of wood, regardless of its type, even hard redwood, buried in the dark underground world for thousands of years, even if the inside remains intact, the surface will inevitably be severely corroded and oxidized. This is a natural phenomenon, and indeed, this round wooden coffin is too well preserved. Moreover, parasitic plants—ghost-faced mushrooms—are growing on the round wooden coffin. Some of these ghost-faced mushrooms probably fell when it fell into the water, and now there seem to be far fewer than before.

"Hiss..."

"What's that sound?" The young master, with his sharp ears, exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah...where is that sound coming from?" Huang Zhihua asked, frowning.

The young master made a shushing gesture. I thought I had heard something too, so the three of us held our breath and listened intently. Sure enough, a hissing sound came from inside the coffin again, which seemed to be an extremely faint breathing sound, or perhaps the soft snoring of someone asleep...

There's someone inside the coffin? We couldn't help but shudder. In this eerie underground world, the sound of human breathing could be heard coming from an extremely bizarre log coffin—I absolutely do not believe there is a living person inside the coffin!

Could it be that the princess, who has been sleeping for thousands of years, is actually inside the coffin? How ironic!

I looked up at Huang Zhihua, seeking his opinion—his thick, sword-like eyebrows were deeply furrowed, and under the light of the miner's lamp above his head, his face was deathly pale, and his lips were trembling.

"Open!" After a long while, Huang Zhihua waved his hand forcefully, as if he had burned his boat, but his voice trembled: "Old Xu, open! We've come this far, at worst the three of us will stay and be buried with that woman."

"That's right!" The young master jumped up and shouted, "Damn it, who's afraid of who!"

My temper flared, and my courage grew a bit too. I nodded, drew my bronze sword, and inserted it into the gap in the coffin. I remember clearly that this round wooden coffin hadn't been nailed in. Originally, there was a crack between the lid and the body of the coffin, but now, the lid and the body of the coffin were perfectly sealed together, without a single gap.

However, I circled the coffin with the bronze sword to confirm that there were no nails or wax seals, and that the coffin lid was not connected to the coffin body; it was just loosely placed on top of it.

I sheathed my bronze sword, called out to Huang Zhihua and the other man, and gestured for them to come and help.

Just as the three of us were about to exert force, we suddenly heard a soft hissing sound from inside the coffin, as if something had pried open the coffin lid. We were so frightened that our faces turned ashen, and we hurriedly let go and took a few steps back. The three of us looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have fled in terror long ago. Even a seasoned Nanpaizi would kneel and kowtow three times before the coffin in such a situation, and then retreat from the ancient tomb in a panic, like a stray dog.

However, we just happened to run into the three of us who were incredibly brave. Moreover, we had no way out, so even though we were terrified, none of us were willing to run away or give up.

The three of us waited for a while, but there was not a sound from inside the coffin. I thought for a moment and instructed Huang Zhihua, "Get the gun ready, the young master and I will push the coffin."

Huang Zhihua nodded, took the gun from behind his back, gently pulled the trigger, and then focused intently on the coffin. The young master muttered to himself—why is he always the one who has to do all the hard labor? Only the young master could say something like that at a time like this.

The young master and I worked together, and I shouted, "One, two, three, open!"

With a bang, the coffin lid wasn't as heavy as we'd imagined. The young master and I pushed it open with almost no effort. I didn't even have the courage to peek inside. I grabbed the young master and quickly took several steps back, just in case something unclean inside the coffin suddenly jumped out and hurt us.

"Old Xu, there's someone in the coffin..." the young master said urgently.

I'd already pulled him back five or six steps, so naturally I couldn't see what was inside the coffin. Hearing this, I rolled my eyes at him, annoyed. Of course I knew there was someone inside the coffin; coffins were for the dead, how could there be no one? The question was, was the person lying in the coffin actually dead? Or was it some strange, eerie thing?

In this way, Huang Zhihua was closest to the coffin. Holding his gun, with the boldness honed by military training, he slowly took two steps forward, peeked into the coffin, and then saw the burly soldier looking terrified, his eyes bulging out, staggering backward quickly. After retreating three or four steps, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

A bright red liquid slowly flowed from my mouth; in my extreme nervousness, I bit my tongue until it bled.

I was suspicious. What had he seen that made him so frightened? Even when we faced Wang Quansheng's bizarre corpse, he hadn't been this flustered.

"Mr. Huang... are you alright?" I asked weakly, feeling a little guilty, with cold sweat already dripping down my back.

Huang Zhihua didn't answer me. He raised a hand, pointing tremblingly at the coffin. His lips moved, but he couldn't utter a single word. Seeing him like this, I dared not go over to see what was going on. I just stood there dumbfounded. I didn't move, and neither did the young master. The three of us, with a strange round wooden coffin, stood in an eerie standoff in the underground world.

I don't know how much time passed, but I felt my vest was soaked through and my clothes were sticking to my body, making me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I swallowed hard, grabbed the bronze sword in my hand, and walked step by step toward the coffin.

One step, two steps, three steps... Finally, I got closer. I closed my eyes first, and then opened them again. Just as I saw what was inside the coffin, I, like Huang Zhihua, retreated hastily and stumbled into the young master.

"Old Xu..." The young master helped me up.

“Girl…Girl…” I said with difficulty, my mouth dry, pointing to the coffin.

"What did you say?" The young master immediately became agitated. He didn't care about anything else, except for the girl, who was his life. He rushed to the coffin in one stride.

Fearing for the young master's safety, I quickly followed—indeed, even if there were something unclean inside the wooden coffin, it shouldn't have scared Huang Zhihua and me this much. To find our old acquaintance lying in a coffin from thousands of years ago—such a shock was simply too much for our hearts to bear.

Huang Zhihua gasped for breath as he got up from the ground and walked to the round wooden coffin again.

I have to admire the courage of the three of us—really, I never realized before how bold I was. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have gone crazy from fright if they encountered such a bizarre situation.

The girl lay quietly in the round wooden coffin, her face still the same one we knew, even a faint smile on her lips—but she was wearing a golden brocade woven with gold thread. We had seen this kind of clothing before; it was the same fabric worn by the corpse lying in the white jade coffin in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum. I remember it clearly; this fabric was incredibly tough, even the ancient bronze sword couldn't damage it in the slightest.

This is the legendary golden robe!

However, this garment was worn by a maid, and unlike the gold-threaded robe in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum, this gold-threaded robe was woven into a long skirt, and even the hem was adorned with small ornaments carved from pure white jade pieces no bigger than a thumb, making it exceptionally luxurious.