Tomb raiding: Scientists dissect the Queen Mother of the West

Chapter 58, "The Rotting Corpse," contains a surprise. Click here to unlock it now.

Lieutenant Zhang walked up to the three corpses, squatted down, and began searching them.

Unfortunately, he found nothing.

The three of them were not carrying anything of importance.

He turned around, looked at Master Zhang, and said:

"Master, they have nothing on them."

Master Zhang remained calm, showing no surprise whatsoever, as if he had already anticipated this outcome:

"Okay, I understand."

Having spent so much time with these three last night, he would have noticed anything on them long ago.

Just now, he only let his adjutant Zhang go up and touch it.

It doesn't necessarily have to find something.

Qi Baye scratched his head and muttered to himself:

"We finally found three people connected to the mine, but before we could even ask them anything, they died."

"What bad luck!"

"Master, what do we do next?"

Master Zhang lowered his head, pondered for a moment, and said slowly:

"Keep walking forward; they'll come here because they must be heading somewhere."

"Let's explore the surrounding area; we might make an unexpected discovery."

He knew that the three people hadn't walked this way for no reason.

Perhaps the Japanese have an underground laboratory nearby.

This matter concerns the safety of Changsha City; he must find the underground laboratory and destroy it.

Otherwise, if bacteria and viruses spread widely, the people of Changsha will be plunged into an abyss of despair.

This is not what he wanted to see.

Qi Mo raised his hand, his fingertips stroking the scales on the mutated pheasant's neck.

He didn't speak, but instead looked around.

Nothing was discovered.

Qi Baye took out a complicated compass, intending to use it to determine the direction.

However, the magnetic field here is strange; the compass needle spins erratically, making it impossible to discern any direction.

"Strange, why isn't my compass working?"

"Cousin, Master, something's strange here."

Qi Mo raised an eyebrow and slowly said:

"There must be something here that can affect the magnetic field, which is why your compass is malfunctioning."

Master Zhang nodded and echoed:

"That's right, let's look around and see if there's anything unusual."

As Qi Mo and his companions walked forward, they observed their surroundings.

Before long, they discovered a fairly new railway track.

Zhang Dafoye squatted down and touched the railway track:

"These railway tracks must have been built recently; they still have electricity on them."

He looked at Master Qi:

"The reason your compass is not working properly is most likely due to the influence of this railway track."

Master Qi fiddled with the compass for a bit, but still couldn't determine the direction:

"It seems they really have been affected by this railway track."

Since the compass was useless, he had no choice but to put it away.

Qi Mo was looking around when he suddenly saw an old man's figure appear in front of him and warned him:

"There's someone over there who might know something. Let's go ask him."

Zhang Dafoye and the other two all looked in one direction.

There, in the grass ahead, stood an old man with a hunched back, carrying firewood on his back.

The old man was startled when he saw four strangers and quickly turned and ran away.

Qi Mo wouldn't let him leave. He raised his hand and flung the mutated pheasant's neck away.

With a whooshing sound, the mutated pheasant's neck landed precisely on the old man's neck, binding him tightly.

The old man felt a tightness in his neck, and he couldn't breathe properly. The suffocating feeling of impending death washed over him.

He screamed in panic:

"Don't kill me, don't kill me! I'm just an old woodcutter, not a bad person..."

The mutated pheasant neck didn't kill; it simply entangled the person, preventing them from escaping.

Qi Mo stepped forward, looked at the old man who was bent over in great pain, and warned him:

"Don't even think about running away."

"Otherwise, you won't be so lucky next time."

"My snake will strangle you to death."

The old man nodded, and said fearfully:

"I'm not running away, I'm not running away, please get this snake off my neck."

He trembled with fear at the sight of the two snake heads with their sharp fangs bared.

This looks poisonous; if he were bitten, he would probably die right here.

[Old man's shock level +1000]

Qi Mo stretched out a hand and said:

"Come back."

With a "whoosh," the mutated pheasant's neck was back in Qi Mo's hand.

The old man can finally breathe normally again.

He greedily inhaled the fresh air, a smile of relief spreading across his face.

The red snake nearly strangled him to death.

Standing next to Qi Mo, Uncle Qi looked the old man up and down and asked loudly:

"Why did you see us running away? We weren't going to eat you."

"I'm asking you, when was this railway built?"

Have you seen any Japanese people in the area?

The old man raised his head, looked at Qi Mo and the other three, organized his thoughts, and said:

"This railway was built about six months ago."

"I don't know much either, except that when I went into the mountains to cut firewood, I saw workers building a railway."

"As for the Japanese you mentioned, well, I think I've met them before."

His eyes darted around, clearly indicating that he was hiding something from Qi Mo and the other three.

Seeing this, Qi Mo frowned and questioned:

"What do you mean by 'seems familiar'? If you've seen it, you've seen it; if you haven't, you haven't."

"You're not hiding something from us, are you?"

The mutated pheasant arched its neck, aimed at the old man, and was ready to bite at any moment.

The old man swallowed hard and said in a trembling voice:

"No, don't let it bite me."

"I will tell you everything I know."

"Six months ago, the Japanese asked me to guide them to the mine..."

"I took them to the mine, they gave me some silver dollars and sent me away."

"About a week ago, something seemed to have happened at the mine. More than a dozen miners, who lived not far from my house, all died mysteriously..."

"These days are tough. To survive, I have no choice but to strip them of their clothes and find some money..."

Listening to the old man's words, Qi Mo seemed to be deep in thought, as if the people involved in the accident were not only those on the train.

Others also perished; they died before they could board the train.

He interrupted the old man's rambling and asked him to lead the way to the location where the body had been found.

The old man led the way as he continued speaking:

"Let me tell you, I found quite a few good things next to those corpses."

"Not only did they find a pistol, but they also found a gas mask and a grenade."

"By the way, do you want these things? I can sell them to you at a low price?"

Qi Mo glanced at him:

"Lead the way first, we'll talk about everything else later."

"Alright, alright, I'll do as you say," the old man replied.

After half an hour.

Qi Mo and his group arrived at the entrance of a dilapidated courtyard.

Even before they went inside, the smell of rotting corpses reached their noses.

It smells absolutely awful!

It smelled like a fat pig that had been dead for over ten days and no one had taken care of it.