Ancient tomb excavation traces

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One bizarre thing after another has mired us in a quagmire. At this moment, we suddenly feel that it is truly a miracle that we are still alive in the tomb designed by Sima Yan after all this.

The six of us pieced together several suspicious points about the stone figurine: the mechanism—the red thread—growing into the flesh—a puppet.

Looking at the still standing stone figure, one can see that there are many tiny holes on its outer stone shell. Red threads penetrate the skin of living people through these holes, thus forming the stone figure puppet.

We carefully approached the bronze wall. Lan Quexi dared not hold the torch too close, for fear that the fire might accidentally burn away the clues.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the silk thread emerged from a small hole in the bronze wall, meaning that the thread itself might exist behind the bronze wall. But what exactly was it? And why could it grow inside human flesh? I was filled with questions.

Chen Yu said, "Why don't we remove all the layers of stone from the torso of the stone figure and then examine it thoroughly?"

I agree with this idea. After all, there are too many dangers in the ancient tomb. If we don't figure things out, the red thread might become the ultimate reason for our deaths.

We chose the corpse that Chu Ba had cut into several pieces. Chu Ba was skilled with his knife and quickly finished removing the stone layer. However, when the corpse inside the stone layer was completely exposed, we were shocked. The head we had just seen was rotten, but the body was like dried old tree bark, without a trace of blood.

Chen Yi said, "Wow, this guy looks like an old sausage sold in a supermarket."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Your analogy is quite apt." After speaking, I examined the dried corpse and suddenly realized the real reason the red threads had seeped into the human body—it might be like the man-eating vine, sucking blood! Because on Chu Ba's short knife, there were tiny red specks, like red beads on a blood-tooth fungus. Chu Ba raised the knife and smelled it, saying it was human blood…

Upon hearing this, Bao Cai's hand trembled as he pointed to the red thread that had been cut off by Chu Ba and was hanging on the bronze wall, exclaiming, "Then...then...this is also an evil thing?"

Chu Ba nodded, while Bao Cai rubbed his forehead, clearly unable to accept the truth. I couldn't help but feel the same way: not a single step of this journey had been easy. If the red thread had this strange predilection, it meant it wasn't some inanimate object, but a living creature. This living creature had pierced the mummified corpse's body, like in American movies, where scientists study objects covered in tubes.

The silk is much thinner than a tube, possibly reaching deep into the blood vessels, to the point that it can manipulate the human body.

However, neither Chu Ba nor Lan Quexi had ever seen this creature before. To find out, we had no choice but to turn the mummified corpse over and continue our investigation.

Because the flesh on the corpse's back had become layers of wrinkled folds, and the outer layer of stone had been removed, many clues were lost. This time, looking at the mummified corpse's chest, even the usually bold Chen Tan exclaimed in shock: "Holy crap, what is this? Human body embroidery?"

Although the muscles on the front and back of the corpse were all shrunken together, several holes that had been punctured in the chest of the mummified corpse were clearly visible. The holes were about two centimeters in diameter, obviously formed by concentrated injection of silk threads. The red threads were wrapped around the edges of the holes in a "U" shape, piercing back through the body, making the chest of the corpse look like it was decorated with red flowers.

Chen Yi said, "This person's upper body is like a living embroidery frame. If we bring his torso back, it will be absolutely unique in the world!"

Bao Cai stood there, glanced at it, and said, "I think we should stop. Are we really going to display a dried-up corpse for people to see?"

"What's wrong with visiting? This thing has research value, and we can donate it to the country later..." Chen Yizhi replied smugly.

"I think this red thread is intelligent. After sucking human blood, it knows how to return to its source. It's probably going back to find its mother. If you take this evil thing back, you're just asking for death. And what will you say if the government asks you where this thing came from? You're not going to say you found it in the bushes in Ueno Pit, are you?" Bao Cai mocked.

Chen Yi was displeased, and the two of them began to chatter on. Fortunately, I had learned to ignore this, and what I was thinking now was: Bao Cai's statement was not wrong. The red thread, no, it should be said that the red thread's true form behind the bronze wall did indeed have intelligence. After absorbing human blood, the thread had the property of returning to its original form, and Sima Yan may have used this to fix the stone figurine.

At this point, although the two stone figures were no longer capable of harming anyone, these red threads had become a source of anxiety for us. However, there was one thing I couldn't understand. Since the red threads were alive, how did Sima Yan's mechanism control them to cause danger? Did that old man cast some kind of spell on a living being?

I gave a wry smile. There have been too many bizarre and unexplainable things lately. My imagination can't keep up, so I have no choice but to attribute them to divine power, just like the ancients did.

At this moment, the young Taoist priest reminded us, "Since the silk is blood-sucking, the six of us here might be attacked. We should be careful."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi stood up and said, "No way, the blood inside the stone figures has been drained. They're living creatures, so there shouldn't be any blood left inside, right?"

On the eighth day, not understanding what he meant, he asked him why he thought that way.

Chen Yi said, "It's a very clear principle. If there really is a living being behind the bronze wall, it would be strange if it didn't collect all the blood from the red threads."

His words sent a chill down my spine. Indeed, if a pool of water is filthy, it means it's stagnant and lacks the ability to purify itself. And if a living organism no longer sucks blood, it means it's long dead, so the blood remains trapped in the silk.

Thinking of this, I breathed a sigh of relief. This was the best possible outcome. But the young Taoist priest looked at the red silk with a heavy expression, clearly not thinking so.

Seeing his expression, I was very uneasy, but I didn't ask any more questions. Because given the young Taoist's personality, he would tell me if he wanted to, and if he didn't want to, I wouldn't get a satisfactory answer even if I asked him ten or more times.

Our current target is still the hidden door to the main coffin chamber. Just as we were about to continue searching, the young Taoist priest said calmly, "There's no need to search any further..."

We looked at him, and he said, "Judging from the appearance of the stone figures, they should be guards. The fact that they are standing on the left and right indicates that the bronze wall behind them is the secret door we are looking for."

One of Sima Yan's most impressive skills was his design of various hidden doors, such as the bronze wall behind the four witch statues in the anteroom. To say it was a hidden door would be absurd; it was so ingeniously crafted. If someone like Sima Yan were alive today, countless wealthy people would probably commission him to design their security systems—far more reliable than bank security systems.

After listening to the young Taoist priest, Chu Ba tapped the bronze wall to the east with the hilt of his knife, but the bronze wall did not make a "clanging" sound, but rather a dull "thumping" sound, as if there was no way behind it at all.

He looked at the young Taoist priest with a puzzled expression and asked, "Little Celestial Master, it seems like the back is sealed off. Are you sure this is the place?"

The young Taoist priest borrowed my Mongolian knife and then carefully tapped on various parts of the bronze wall. Except for the section with the red thread, the other bronze walls generally produced a "clanging" echo. In other words, only the bronze wall where the stone figure was located was different from the rest.

"It should be here..." After receiving confirmation, the young Taoist said calmly, "If I'm not mistaken, something is blocking the entrance."

His words immediately reminded me of the true form of the red silk. But if that form could block the hidden door, how big would it be? And since it's blocking the way here, could it be something Sima Yan used specifically to block the path?

Chen Yi said, "No way, blocking the intersection would make him a gatekeeper who's been guarding it for centuries, wouldn't it? If that's the case, is Sima Yan really some kind of highly spiritual being, capable of taming a divine creature rarely seen since ancient times?"

The young Taoist priest frowned slightly and said, "If we want to solve the mystery and find a way out, we have no choice but to start with the mechanism."

I nodded, because the mechanism could control the red thread, so it must be connected to a living thing. So we looked for clues from the mechanism that Chu Ba and Bao Cai had stepped on earlier.

Upon closer inspection, the square pattern on the mechanism depicted a strange face. The face had its eyes closed, and its lines weren't as defined as those of other mythical beasts. Its flesh was somewhat saggy, resembling the face of an extremely obese person. I used all my imagination, but couldn't piece together a rough outline. I thought to myself: What is this thing? Why does it look so abstract?