The sound coming from the stone coffin was like a night owl calling, sending chills down our spines. Normally, there shouldn’t be any zombies in a ghost tomb, especially since this stone coffin had long been lost to the world, and the bones of its owner were long gone. So what was that sound?
It sounded like some animal was struggling desperately. Was it those two geese? No, it couldn’t be their honking; that noise was too awful, like something was choking, deep and mournful.
Fatty, Big Gold Tooth, and I didn’t want to stir up trouble. We just wanted to quickly deal with the two geese and make this Western Zhou ghost tomb disappear so we could leave. But things didn’t go as planned, and we had to cautiously check it out.
We each grabbed our weapons. I had a paratrooper knife, Big Gold Tooth held a golden Buddha in one hand and a black donkey hoof in the other, while Fatty carried a shovel, slowly approaching the stone coffin.
Fatty, leading the way, tried to boost his courage, saying, “It’s definitely those two geese causing trouble. When we catch them, they’ll regret it.”
As we bravely surrounded the back of the stone coffin, we found it empty. The mournful cries had stopped. The sound had clearly come from here, so why was it suddenly gone? I cursed, “Damn it, something’s up again.”
Fatty patted the stone coffin and said, “Could the sound have come from inside this stone box? Since this Western Zhou tomb can exist in a ghostly state, maybe even the zombies inside this box have turned into ghosts.”
Big Gold Tooth replied, “You really know how to scare me! My heart is about to jump out of my mouth. May the compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva protect us…” He chanted, trying to look at the pendant in his hand for courage, only to realize he was holding a gilded statue of Buddha instead of the jade Guanyin. He quickly chanted a few more prayers.
I told Fatty, “That sound didn’t seem to come from the coffin. I clearly heard it from behind the coffin. Besides, this…”
Before I could finish my sentence, a flash of white light appeared in front of us, and something fell right onto the stone coffin. I jumped back in fright, and when I looked closely, it turned out to be one of the lost geese. It landed on the coffin without a scratch, flapping its big wings and waddling around on top. I had no idea how it had suddenly dropped down from the tomb’s roof or how it had gotten up there in the first place.
The first thought that crossed our minds was, “What’s up there?” Since we had been focused on the sounds coming from below, our flashlights were aimed low. Now, thinking there might be something above, we all raised our lights to shine upward.
In the underworld hall of the Tang tomb, the ceiling was dome-shaped, covered in stars that signified good fortune. There was nothing unusual, except for some changes; ghostly stone walls had appeared along the edges of the ceiling. This rare sight of two tombs combined into one was something that probably fewer than three people in the world had ever seen.
Seeing nothing unusual above, we caught the big white goose on the stone coffin, but the other one was still missing. We searched all around the underworld hall, but it was nowhere to be found. The Tang tomb was vast, with the underworld hall alone covering over a hundred square meters. But that wasn’t the end; when completed, a stone house was supposed to be built in the center of the hall, making the entire layout a square shape, specifically for placing the coffin of the tomb’s owner, while the outer area was meant for important burial items.
The underworld hall still lacked side chambers, and the rear hall hadn’t been started yet. Only a ghostly Xuanhun Ladder appeared, while the front area was larger, featuring an underground palace with a pool in front. It seemed that when completed, it would resemble an imperial garden.
With just the three of us and limited lighting, searching for a lively goose in such a vast space was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Thinking about the strange occurrences in this ancient tomb, I didn’t want to waste any more time. I said to Fatty and Big Gold Tooth, “Since we’ve only caught one, let’s make sure it doesn’t escape again. We’ll forget about the other goose for now, just kill this one and pour its blood at the entrance of the tunnel to see if it works. If it doesn’t, we can go after the other one.”
Fatty took the goose to the tunnel entrance, pulled out his paratrooper knife, and swiftly cut its windpipe. He held the goose upside down, and its blood flowed out in a steady stream. The goose squirmed, but Fatty held on tight until it was completely drained before tossing it aside.
Big Gold Tooth asked me, “Old Hu, do you really think this will work?”
I replied, “It’s our last resort. We’ve thought of everything else, so it should be fine. I’ll check for any changes. By the way, I wonder if the goose blood can ward off evil. Let’s smear some on our faces.”
I stepped to the tunnel entrance and shone my wolf-eye flashlight inside. The area that had once been a complete tomb passage was now gone, filled with dirt—just like the previous tunnel.
Whether it was a lucky coincidence or something else, the tunnel had returned. But it wasn’t time to celebrate yet; our flashlight batteries were nearly dead. We quickly replaced the last of our backup batteries and jumped into the vertical shaft of the tomb passage.
This time, I led the way. I told Fatty and Big Gold Tooth, “Let’s not stop this time. Master Jin, stay right behind me, and Fatty, you bring up the rear. If Master Jin can’t keep going, you have to push him out.”
Fatty asked, “Why the rush? Can’t we just take it slow? The tunnel is open now.”
I replied, “You don’t get it. We’ve only killed one goose, and we don’t know where the other one went. That ghost tomb might still have surprises for us. We need to get out while we can. If we get stuck again, we might as well bang our heads against the wall.”
Not wanting to say more, I called out and crawled into the tunnel ahead. Big Gold Tooth and Fatty followed, keeping about two meters apart.
After crawling for a while, I glanced back at Big Gold Tooth, who was panting heavily. But to leave the tunnel as soon as possible, he gritted his teeth and pushed himself to keep up closely behind me.
The tunnel had completely returned to its original state, and I was curious. The key was that the two geese had seemed off. We suspected that they had disturbed the ghost tomb, and we should have killed both to make it disappear. So why had it returned to normal after just one was killed? Could it be that the other goose was already dead?
Thinking about the goose we had just killed, which had suddenly fallen from the tomb’s roof onto the stone coffin, and the strange sounds we had heard earlier, sent chills down my spine. I didn’t want to dwell on it any longer and continued to crawl through the tunnel.
After crawling for about twenty meters, I began to hear the sound of dripping water, indicating we were halfway through. Ahead was the tunnel’s opening. I climbed up and jumped down, waiting for Big Gold Tooth to catch up so I could help him down.
Big Gold Tooth was drenched in sweat, gasping for breath as he said, “I… I can’t… go on… anymore… I’m… exhausted… need to catch my breath.”
Seeing that he was truly spent, I realized he had pushed himself to the limit to keep up. I couldn’t carry him through the tunnel, so I told him to sit and rest for a moment.
“Take a breather, Big Gold Tooth. Try to breathe deeply. Once Fatty gets out, we can’t stop. We need to keep moving. When we’re outside, you can rest however you want, but not now. Just hold on a little longer.”
Big Gold Tooth could barely respond, just nodding weakly. I turned to check on Fatty, who was still about twenty meters from the exit. His size made it harder for him to crawl, so he was lagging behind.
I was peering into the tunnel when Fatty called out from behind, “Old Hu, what are you looking at? Did Big Gold Tooth go in first? Hurry up, let’s get inside and crawl out of this hellhole. I never want to come back to this cursed place again!”
I turned around and saw Fatty standing behind me, but Big Gold Tooth was nowhere to be found. I quickly asked Fatty, “Where’s Big Gold Tooth? Didn’t you see him?”
Fatty replied, “What? He didn’t go in? When I crawled out, I only saw you here!”
Just then, a strange noise echoed from deeper in the cave. I quickly shone my wolf-eye flashlight in that direction. I wish I hadn’t—what I saw left me stunned. There was a figure standing in the cave, its face pale and devoid of color.
The face was enormous, like a basin, hidden in the dark corner of the cave. The flashlight barely illuminated its features, but the bizarre, cold expression was identical to the face carved on the stone coffin in the ghost tomb.
The only difference was that this face wasn’t carved from stone or painted on the walls. Under the light, it suddenly changed; the corners of its mouth turned up into a smile, and its eyes closed, forming crescent-shaped slits. I had never seen such an eerie, indescribable smile in my life.
Both Fatty and I instinctively took a step back, but then I remembered: where was Big Gold Tooth? Had this ghostly figure captured him? Or was he already dead? Although Big Gold Tooth was a shrewd businessman, he wasn’t evil, and he had a connection with us. I couldn’t just abandon him to save myself.
Regardless, Big Gold Tooth’s disappearance was surely linked to this sudden appearance of the ghostly face. Perhaps the missing goose from the underworld hall was also part of this creature’s doing.
Fatty and I exchanged glances, both thinking the same thing. We drew our weapons; I held my flashlight in one hand and my knife in the other, taking a few steps toward the ghostly face. Suddenly, I heard strange sounds coming from beneath my feet.