Chapter 60: The Secret Treasure is at Hand
“You…you guys…”
Fan Zheng saw not only Du Yunzhang, but also Yin Chuan, Ou Yelinlang, Luo Mei, Fourth Concubine Qin, and Fifth Concubine Yu Zhenzhu behind him. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, thinking he had been in the tomb too long and was hallucinating. He couldn't help but blink hard, convinced that the person holding his wrist was Du Yunzhang.
"Haha, did you think we'd be trapped to death in the tomb passage after you blocked the exit with the Fatal Stone?" Du Yunzhang laughed. "Alas, you planned everything, but you never thought we'd find another exit. Sorry to disappoint you."
"Impossible! There is no other exit there!" Fan Zheng roared hysterically.
"Master Fan," Yin Chuan approached and spoke, "I can see that you're determined to obtain Shen Wansan's so-called 'secret treasure' on this trip. You've made such thorough preparations, even risking the lives of two of your men. However, I'm curious, don't you feel like you've been used along the way?"
Fan Zheng was furious just now, but after hearing what Yin Chuan said, he couldn't help but calm down a little.
"What do you mean? I was used? Who used me? Di Feiyan?" His eyes fell fiercely on Luo Mei.
"Why are you glaring at me? You came here on your own accord. I didn't invite you." Luo Mei responded unhappily.
"Master Fan, please stop guessing. You know better than anyone why you've gotten involved in this mess."
Fan Zheng sucked in a breath of cold air and glanced at the fifth concubine, Yu Zhenzhu. Could it be her? No, that's not right. She is such a weak woman, she is nothing more than a middleman for Master Lan. It seems that the mastermind behind the scenes can only be Master Lan. - But he is dead! His head and body are separated, he is dead! How else can he use me? Or that crazy fourth concubine? But she doesn't look like she is pretending to be crazy. Who is it?
Seeing Fan Zheng's eyes darting around, Yin Chuan guessed what he was thinking. "I advise you to stop imagining things. Although Luo Mei was the instigator of this incident, she's definitely not the true mastermind behind it. This whole thing is like a planned chess game, and we're all just pawns. If any piece becomes useless, it's discarded like a worn-out shoe, like Tan Zhuozi and Yuan Laoer. Even more important participants, like Master Lan, could be discarded."
"Master Lan? Didn't he try to open the coffin himself and get hit by the flying blade mechanism on the coffin lid and lose his head?"
"That's just what the people behind the scenes want you to think." Yin Chuan said with a smile, "Master Fan, you should get out of the coffin first. Let's talk face to face calmly and discuss the whole story."
Only then did Fan Zheng realize that he was still sitting in the coffin. He immediately shook off Du Yunzhang's hand, jumped out of the coffin, and jumped to the other side, separating him from Yin Chuan, Du Yunzhang, and the others. He held the secret treasure box tightly in his hand, and it seemed that he still did not dare to let down his guard.
"Are you still planning to keep the secret treasure for yourself?" Luo Mei shouted sternly.
"What? After all the hardships, the secret treasure is right before our eyes. Do you still expect me to give it up?"
Yin Chuan smiled coldly, "Master Fan, please be patient for now. We can talk about the secret treasure later. We just mentioned that Master Lan died because of the mechanism in the coffin... At least we all inhaled the smoke and lost consciousness at the time. No one saw Master Lan being trapped. It was only because I was the first to discover his headless body next to him after waking up that everyone searched for his head, and we finally found it in the coffin. However... In the process of finding the head, I discovered a few suspicious points that no one else noticed -"
Yin Chuan pointed at the lantern in Fan Zheng's hand. "First of all, when I regained consciousness, I immediately saw the blood on my hands and the headless body of Master Lan lying beside me. I only saw all of this clearly because there was still light in the tomb. But this is strange. Luo Mei had been using that lantern the entire time. She had been using it the entire way into the tomb, and after we entered the tomb, she said the battery was running low. But why was it still lit after we were unconscious for so long? And why was it still fully charged when we used it later?"
"What's so strange about that?" Fan Zheng said, "After the old eunuch charmed everyone, he saw that the lantern was running low on battery, so he replaced it with a spare battery."
"No!" Luo Mei interrupted him, "Although I have spare batteries with me, I checked them and, apart from the one time I changed them myself, there's no sign of them being used before."
"So he prepared it himself?"
"That's not right. First of all, he asked me to prepare all the equipment for going down to the tomb, so there was no need for me to bring spare batteries with me. Secondly, I also checked the things he brought, and apart from some water and food, there were only some soft items, and there were no spare batteries at all." Luo Mei once again denied Fan Zheng's explanation.
"Well—that's a little strange."
Yin Chuan continued, "The second suspicious point is that after everyone woke up, Luo Mei opened the coffin to search for treasure and found that there was only one rope left of the original two. Master Fan, if I remember correctly, the one you took out the first time was missing, right?"
Fan Zheng knew he had three ropes with him, but he had been careful and only gave one to Luo Mei. Even if it was lost, he still had two more on him, which was enough, so he didn't think much of it.
"Yes, the lost one is indeed mine."
"But why did the rope disappear out of thin air? From the time we left the tomb passage until we returned to this chamber, no one found any trace of the rope. Of course, these two ropes must have been a backup plan you left for yourself, Master Fan. We all understand."
Fan Zheng's expression changed, and then he said, "What does this mean?"
"Don't worry, let's talk about the third suspicious point." Yin Chuan continued calmly, "It's the bloodstains. When I found the blood on my hand that had flowed from the corpse's cavity, the bloodstains were not yet dry, which means that the person was beheaded not long ago. But the strange thing is that when we found the head in the coffin later, there was blood only on the inside of the coffin, while the outside of the coffin lid was not stained with blood. What's going on?"
"Hmm...Brother Yin, it does sound a bit strange now that you mention it," Luo Mei said. "If Master Lan had triggered the flying blade mechanism under the coffin lid when he opened it, and severed the head with one blow, blood would have gushed out immediately. Even if the head had fallen squarely into the coffin, the blood in the cavity would have inevitably splattered onto the coffin lid."
"No! That's not right!" Fan Zheng's voice trembled. "This isn't strange at all. There are things stranger than this! Look—" He pointed at the coffin in front of him with wide eyes. "Here... here... there's nothing! Nothing! There must be a ghost here!"
"Nothing at all?" Du Yunzhang asked in confusion.
"Bloodstains...human heads...nothing!" Fan Zheng pointed at the coffin and growled hysterically.
Luo Mei and Du Yunzhang went up to the coffin and took a closer look. It was indeed empty. Not only was there no blood, there wasn't even any smell of blood.
"Really?! I saw a ghost!" Du Yunzhang took a breath of cold air.
Yin Chuan was remarkably composed, as if he'd already understood the situation. He patted the coffin in front of him, turned back to Linlang, and said, "Just now in the tunnel, you said you felt like you'd seen this path before. Could it be an illusion that comes with spending a long time in a dark, narrow tomb passage? Luo Mei told you that it was indeed the case. Of course, with her extensive experience in tomb robbing, it's not surprising to suspect she's delusional. But considering the series of suspicious points surrounding Master Lan's death, your feeling isn't an illusion. In other words, your sense of 'déjà vu' about that tunnel is simply because it's a path we've walked before."
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