"Giggle!"
"Waaaaah!"
The baby's cries and laughter echoed in the dark tomb passage, the shrill sounds unsettling everyone.
The monkey looked around the tomb passage, then pressed its ear against a nearby bottle: "The sound isn't coming from inside the bottle; it sounds like it's coming from deep within the corridor?"
Song Laosan asked, "Could it be some kind of mechanism, like the sound of the wooden fish in the demon monk's tomb?"
"The sound of a wooden fish can be transmitted through striking, but the ancients didn't have recording devices, so how could they imitate a child's laughter?"
The monkey didn't agree with this explanation and gestured to the two bottles beside it: "Little friends, if the sounds here are really related to you, then please stop making noise. I'll break these bottles right now, take your remains with me, and after we leave this tomb, I'll find a good burial place for you, okay?"
As a result, just as the monkey finished speaking, the sounds of the child crying and laughing in the tomb suddenly stopped.
This actually made us even more panicked.
Old Song pointed his gun at the deep tomb passage and asked me, "Little Duan, is there any record of something similar in the Judge's Record?"
"I've read similar accounts in the 'Tales of the Strange' section. My great-grandfather once saw a little boy in a tomb while he was robbing tombs in Zhejiang. The child looked about six or seven years old and said he was a cowherd from a nearby village. My great-grandfather thought the child had fallen out of the tomb and took him with him. But as they walked, the child disappeared. When he returned to the surface, he found that there was no village the child had mentioned. After checking the local county records, he learned that the village existed at the same time as the tomb."
I also find it hard to explain this event: "Since we are in the underworld, we should still maintain a sense of awe. The monkey has already said that he wants to bury these two children, so let's take their remains with us."
As soon as I finished speaking, I raised the butt of my gun and smashed the bottle on the left. Then I took off my coat, wrapped up the skeleton of a small baby inside, made it into a bundle, and carried it on my shoulder.
The moment the wrap was put on, in the pitch-black tomb passage, I suddenly felt a warm sensation on my back, as if I were really carrying a little child on my back.
To us, this was just bizarre, but Zhou Peng was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground: "Mr. Duan, I don't want to go any further. This place is too scary, and it's haunted! Can I just stay here and wait for you to come back?"
I glanced at Zhou Peng's already wet crotch and didn't press him: "Come with us, and you'll have someone with you. If you stay, you'll be all alone. And I must remind you, we might not leave this place this way again."
"No! Don't leave me!"
Upon hearing what I said, Zhou Peng grabbed my wrist: "Mr. Duan, I can tell you're a master of feng shui. I've made contributions to you all this way, please, don't abandon me!"
"Don't worry, what we're looking for is at the end of the tomb passage. We'll leave as soon as we get it!"
I patted Zhou Peng's arm, then carried the remains on my back and continued on my way.
At this moment, Song Laosan walked up to me and asked in a low voice, "Xiao Duan, do you feel like something's not right?"
I glanced at him sideways: "For example?"
Song Laosan whispered, "Look, we came down with Duan Jinyan's group, which means they've already passed through this tomb passage. So why didn't they smash the jar?"
"We took the remains away only because the monkey made a promise to the spirits of the two children. Perhaps Duan Jinyan and the others also heard the voice, but took other measures to get through here."
I couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for the ghostly incident here either. I just speculated, "When this golden couple was sent to the tomb, they were not yet mature. Even if they really became ghosts, they wouldn't have any intention of harming people. Duan Jinyan has been robbing tombs for more than 20 years, so such a small trick would not scare him."
After thinking for a moment, Song Laosan nodded in agreement: "Second Uncle is hailed as a rare genius among the four sects. He has been out in the world for so many years that even Su Jialiang is wary of him. In this circle, he should be considered a top-notch expert."
As you continue deeper into the tomb passage, niches appear on both sides. In each of these niches, there is a skeleton dressed in armor, along with a bow and arrow, a sword, and a golden lampstand.
Seeing the skeletons, I turned to Duan Peng and said, "Tell Ivan and Sasha that they must not touch anything here without my permission. If we trigger any mechanisms, we'll be in danger!"
The monkey shone his flashlight on a skeleton sitting against the wall in the niche, and frowned slightly: "Young Master Duan, look at the posture of this skeleton. Its hand is still holding a knife, and its head is hanging down naturally. It doesn't look like it was beaten to death and placed here as a funerary offering. It looks more like it died of natural causes."
I explained, “Feudal society has many drawbacks, but from a certain perspective, their humanity is purer than that of people in modern society. These guards should be Hu Shahu’s personal soldiers, who volunteered to be buried with him. There are countless examples like this. The ancients did not believe that death was the end of life. Many emperors would ask their trusted ministers to be buried with them when they made their final arrangements. In addition to wanting to maintain their power in the afterlife, they also considered clearing obstacles for their successors.”
The monkey sniffed: "But wasn't Hu Shahu a criminal punished by Emperor Xuanzong of Jin? Why are these soldiers still willing to die with him?"
“When I was a child, I heard an old saying that even a villain like Qin Hui had three lovers. Hu Shahu was a high-ranking official, and to these soldiers, he had long been deified. Since he dared to use his troops to kill the emperor, he naturally had something to rely on, and his soldiers were his confidence. Anyone who could reach the position of Hu Shahu knew the importance of winning people’s hearts.”
I didn't linger before the remains, and as I walked, I said, "The ancients valued loyalty and righteousness. Among the masses, apart from a few ambitious individuals like Hu Shahu, most are ordinary people like you and me. They can't see the true face of this world, nor do they understand its true nature. Hu Shahu can provide them with a comfortable material life, which is enough for them to be devoted to him. Besides, these people are Hu Shahu's personal guards. Even if they aren't buried with him, the court won't... wait!"
The monkey was listening intently when I suddenly raised my hand and asked, still wanting more, "What happened?"
Because our equipment was lost, we weren't wearing gas masks, just two medical masks each. At that moment, I could smell a strange odor: "Can you smell anything unusual? Like something's moldy?"
Sasha, who was behind me, also noticed the abnormality. She took off her mask and sniffed: "It smells of blood, human blood!"
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