A colorful wildcat suddenly slipped silently into the tomb chamber from the tunnel. It was now perched on Zhegushao’s shoulder, glaring at him with its fierce, big eyes.
Zhegushao cursed under his breath, “What bad luck!” In the world of tomb raiders, encountering animals like cats, foxes, or weasels in a tomb was considered a bad omen, especially wildcats. It was said that cats carried a mysterious energy, and if a live cat came into contact with a corpse, it could easily trigger a transformation.
This uninvited wildcat showed no fear of strangers. It stared at Zhegushao for a moment before leaning down to peek into the coffin. It seemed particularly interested in the burial objects placed beside the female corpse. The shiny golden items looked like irresistible toys to it, and it seemed ready to leap into the coffin at any moment.
Zhegushao’s heart raced with worry. He feared that if the wildcat jumped into the coffin and touched the female corpse, even with the corpse holding a stabilizing pill in its mouth, it could still cause a transformation. While he wasn’t afraid of a white ghost, the noise could easily extinguish the candles, and time was running out. He might not have enough time to retrieve the burial clothes for Elder Chen. The rules of the tomb raiders were strict: no touching the gold when the rooster crows or when the candles go out.
Even though Zhegushao was skilled enough to break these rules and take the burial clothes without much trouble, those in the trade valued loyalty and promises above all else. For someone like him, who was a master in this field, these rules were even more precious. If he lost the very rules that allowed him to survive, he would be no better than a common thief.
Just as these thoughts crossed his mind, the wildcat could no longer resist the shiny burial objects. It crouched and prepared to leap off Zhegushao’s shoulder.
Zhegushao wanted to grab the wildcat, but he feared that any sudden movement might startle it and lead to disaster. As he watched the wildcat about to jump into the coffin, he quickly came up with a plan and softly whistled.
His nickname, Zhegushao, came from his ability to mimic various animal sounds perfectly. To distract the wildcat, he pursed his lips and whistled a few notes, then imitated a cat’s meow.
The wildcat, ready to jump into the coffin, was indeed drawn to the sound of its own kind. Its ears perked up as it searched for the source of the meowing. It seemed puzzled, wondering where the other cat was hiding since it couldn’t see one nearby.
Seeing that the wildcat had taken the bait, Zhegushao thought about how to lure it away from the coffin. If he could just buy a little more time to strip the burial clothes from the female corpse, he would be successful. After that, the wildcat could play in the coffin all it wanted. But how could he temporarily distract it?
To further divert the wildcat’s attention, Zhegushao softly mimicked a bird call. The wildcat, likely hungry after days without food, perked up at the sound. It finally realized that the bird call was coming from beneath the cloth covering Zhegushao’s face. The wildcat’s curiosity was piqued; it thought there might be a little sparrow hidden under the black cloth.
As the wildcat imagined a small sparrow, its eyes lit up with hunger. It raised its paw and began to paw at the black cloth covering Zhegushao’s mouth. Zhegushao couldn’t help but feel a sense of triumph and thought, “Dumb cat, you’re really clueless.”
Taking advantage of the wildcat’s complete focus on the cloth, Zhegushao quietly reached for a burial object in the coffin—a pure gold bracelet. To avoid startling the wildcat, he kept his arm still and flicked the bracelet with his thumb, sending it toward the tunnel behind him.
The golden bracelet arced through the air, landing near the entrance of the tunnel at the back of the tomb chamber. The tomb was eerily quiet; you could even hear a pin drop. As soon as the bracelet hit the ground, it caught the wildcat’s attention. Zhegushao stopped using his animal mimicry, and the wildcat, thinking the little sparrow had slipped away while it wasn’t looking, meowed and jumped into the tunnel, eager to catch its prey.
This was the opportunity Zhegushao had been waiting for. The moment the wildcat leaped off his shoulder, he quickly pulled out his German mirror box gun, ready to turn around and shoot the wildcat to prevent it from causing any more trouble. However, when he looked back, he was shocked to see not just the original wildcat but also seven or eight more of various sizes had entered the tomb. One of them was dangerously close to the candle, and a single bump could extinguish the flame.
Zhegushao felt cold sweat bead on his forehead. After facing countless dangers, he never expected to encounter such a bizarre situation in this small tomb. Could his earlier mimicry have attracted the attention of nearby wildcats? Cats had keen hearing, and upon hearing the sparrow’s call, they all rushed in, hoping for a meal. With dawn approaching, he felt a sense of urgency.
Normally, wildcats were suspicious creatures and rarely ventured into ancient tombs through tunnels. Zhegushao couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the absurdity of the situation. What was supposed to be a simple task of retrieving a set of burial clothes had turned into a chaotic mess.
This was the classic case of “success and failure both stem from the same source.” His impressive mimicry had lured one wildcat but attracted a whole pack instead.
With Zhegushao’s sharpshooting skills, he could easily take out the wildcats in the tomb, but any delay could lead to a wildcat bumping into the candle and extinguishing it.
If he didn’t retrieve the burial clothes before dawn, he would miss out on learning the tomb raider’s techniques for finding hidden treasures. Remembering the tragic fates of his tribe’s members, Zhegushao felt that no challenge could stop him. He gritted his teeth; he couldn’t play it safe anymore. He had to act quickly and strip the burial clothes from the female corpse before those pesky wildcats caused any trouble.
With lightning speed, Zhegushao secured the female corpse and yanked off the burial clothes. He lifted the corpse’s left arm to slide the sleeve off, but just as he began, he noticed two wildcats jumping onto the edge of the golden coffin. Why were they not afraid of him? It was because those who often raided tombs carried a heavy aura of death, appearing almost like the dead themselves. The wildcats sensed no danger from him.
Two wildcats, one black and one spotted, were drawn to the coffin’s golden color. They leaped up, playfully batting at each other, and tumbled into the coffin together.
As the wildcats neared the ancient corpse, Zhegushao knew that if they touched it, a transformation would occur. The female corpse, which had been holding a stabilizing pill in her mouth, had regained her original appearance, but any contact with the wildcats would trigger a change. Zhegushao understood that once the transformation happened, the white ghost would be incredibly fierce and difficult to control. He estimated that in just a short while, the rooster would crow, and while the ghost wouldn’t be able to act immediately, he wouldn’t be able to retrieve the burial clothes afterward.
In a split second, Zhegushao acted. Just before the wildcats could touch the corpse, he pulled the binding rope tight, straightened his back, and leaped to the left, pulling the female corpse out of the coffin with him. Both he and the corpse landed on the tomb chamber floor.
At that moment, three or four wildcats had already jumped into the coffin, chasing and playing with each other. Zhegushao thought to himself that this was more dangerous than a close shave. Now that he was away from the coffin, he couldn’t afford to waste any time. He pushed the corpse off him and lifted its arm again, trying to remove the burial clothes. However, in the flickering candlelight, he noticed that the corpse’s mouth had somehow opened again. It seemed that the sudden movement of jumping out of the coffin had caused it to open.
A layer of white fuzz began to appear on the corpse, resembling mold on spoiled food. The fuzz grew thicker, and the open mouth released a cloud of black mist. Zhegushao’s heart raced, and he gasped at the strong stench of decay. If he hadn’t taken pill beforehand, he would have been poisoned by the miasma.
Zhegushao dared not underestimate the black mist emanating from the ancient corpse. He quickly ducked to avoid it and noticed the deep purple stabilizing pill that had fallen from the female corpse’s mouth, lying next to the candle partially covered by a tile. If he continued to strip the burial clothes from the soon-to-transform female corpse, she would quickly become a white ghost. Zhegushao had no choice but to release his grip on the burial clothes and, seizing the moment before the transformation progressed too far, he decided to put the stabilizing pill back into her mouth.
Rolling on the ground, he pulled the slowly transforming female corpse toward the southeast corner of the tomb, where the light barely reached. The tomb was illuminated by two sources: a lantern hanging from the golden coffin and a candle partially obscured by a tile. The shadows created by the tile and the coffin converged in the southeast corner, where the stabilizing pill lay at the boundary of light and darkness, flickering in and out of visibility.
As Zhegushao approached to grab the pill, a large wildcat suddenly sprang from the shadows in the dark corner. It was the same wildcat that had caused trouble earlier, and it seemed ravenous. Spotting the stabilizing pill, it opened its mouth to bite it.
Zhegushao felt a surge of anger toward the wildcat, but it was too late to grab the pill. In a moment of desperation, he resorted to his old trick and mimicked a mouse’s squeak. The wildcat paused, confused, staring at Zhegushao with its big eyes, unsure why this “mouse” looked so different from the usual ones.
Taking advantage of the wildcat’s momentary distraction, Zhegushao quickly snatched the stabilizing pill from the ground and shoved it into the female corpse’s mouth. Then, with a swift kick, he sent the wildcat flying like a ball, crashing it against the wall of the tomb. The impact was so sudden and forceful that the wildcat died instantly, its body crumpling without a sound.
Zhegushao thought to himself, “I didn’t want to kill you, but you kept ruining my plans. May you find peace.”
He quickly calculated that the rooster in the nearby village would crow in less than the time it took to smoke a cigarette. There was no time to waste. He yanked on the binding rope, pulling the female corpse up. The outer burial clothes had already come off, leaving only the sleeves. The corpse was dressed in nine layers of burial clothes, tightly fitted, but with the right technique, he could remove them without much effort.
Zhegushao positioned the female corpse to turn her around, so he wouldn’t have to lift her arms. He just needed to pull the clothes from behind her. However, before he could complete the turn, he felt a rush of wind. The other wildcats that had entered the tomb heard the earlier mouse squeak, which had come from Zhegushao himself. Starving, they rushed toward him, eager to find the source of the sound.
With a dozen wildcats pouncing at once, Zhegushao knew he couldn’t handle them all at once. A chill ran down his spine. “It seems fate has other plans for me. The heavens won’t allow me to learn the tomb raider’s secrets.”
But this defeatist thought was fleeting. The wildcats were fast, but Zhegushao’s mimicry was faster. He quickly imitated the sound of wildcats: “Meow—Aow—Meow—Aow—”
The wildcats, caught off guard by his unexpected talent, hesitated. They were already suspicious creatures, and now they were confused by the mix of sounds. They stopped in their tracks, staring at Zhegushao with wide eyes.
In the dark tomb, the wildcats’ eyes glowed like bright little lamps, filled with wildness and cunning. Ignoring their intentions, Zhegushao turned the female corpse around and secured her with the binding rope, pulling at the burial clothes.
At that moment, the hungry wildcats seemed to have made up their minds. It was as if they had agreed beforehand that both mice and corpses were fair game. Regardless of the sounds, they were determined to take a bite first. One by one, the wildcats lunged at him like arrows released from a bow.
Zhegushao knew that this bizarre and lengthy night was reaching its climax. Whether he would succeed depended on these final seconds. He had to accomplish three things simultaneously: first, prevent the wildcats from touching the female corpse and triggering a transformation; second, ensure that none of the wildcats extinguished the candle; and third, strip the burial clothes from the female corpse before the rooster crowed, adhering to the rules of the tomb raiders.
Zhegushao stepped back, kicking a tile toward the first wildcat that lunged at him. The tile struck the black wildcat right on the nose, causing it to yowl in pain and roll aside.
At that moment, Zhegushao fell to the ground, using the opportunity to dodge two wildcats that leaped at him from the air. He quickly grabbed the candle from the floor, holding it aloft to light his way. With the flame, he burned through the binding rope on his chest, freeing himself. With his left hand, he grasped the back of the female corpse’s burial clothes.
Both Zhegushao and the female corpse were now on the ground. He kicked the corpse forward, using his foot to push her away from him, which allowed him to pull the burial clothes off her body. The motion was a bit too forceful, and as he yanked the clothes, the candle he was holding extinguished, plunging the tomb into darkness. At that very moment, the distant crowing of the rooster echoed through the tunnel.
It was a rare sight for cats to eat a corpse, but in this tomb, a dozen frenzied wildcats pounced on the female corpse, biting and clawing at her…