?

  At this time, we have approached the nearest stone coffin. The shape of the stone coffin is quite different from that of modern coffins. The overall design is very round and smooth, with no sharp corners. The color is grayish white, and due to long-term erosion by water vapor, many places show a dark moldy color.

  The lid of the stone coffin was open, and it had broken into two pieces on the ground. I bent down to look inside the coffin, thinking that I would see a mummy, but instead it was empty, with only a pile of tattered cloth, crumpled up, its color no longer visible.

  Located in the Kunlun snowy region, the temperature is extremely low, and the corpse cannot rot. I've been walking all the way, seeing a pile of corpses, but they were all not exposed to the bone. I thought I would see another mummy, but unexpectedly, the coffin was empty.

  Where is the body?

  At this time, Old Six turned the flashlight and shone it towards the west, instantly, more stone coffins emerged from the darkness. I took a look and quickly adjusted the flashlight, this time, I saw clearly, unexpectedly, there were nine stone coffins.

  These nine stone coffins were neatly arranged in the northeast corner of the tomb, with four coffin lids open and the rest damaged to varying degrees. Old Six made a gesture to me, indicating that we should split up to examine them, so he went west to check the four coffins on the west side, while I shone my flashlight into the corner of the tomb.

  The second coffin had its lid only half closed, and it was still empty inside.

  I find this situation a bit strange. Firstly, judging from the things left inside these coffins, there were once corpses here. Secondly, since this place is located within the Kunlun Mountains, it's impossible for the corpses to disappear without any reason from the coffins. There are only two possibilities: either someone pulled them out of the coffins or the corpses crawled out of the coffins by themselves.

  If it's the first case, where were their bodies placed? Why did those people do that? Were they San Shu and Hei Xiangzi or others? I couldn't help but think of that horn with a resonant insect, since he could find this place, then over these few thousand years, there must have been more than just our batches who came to this tomb. Could it be the work of ancient Tufuzi?

  If it's the second case...the corpse got up by itself...I thought of this and couldn't help but shiver, feeling that I was thinking too much.

  I heard San Shu say that the zongzi in the ancient tomb would resurrect, mostly due to being disturbed by the yang energy of living people. From a scientific perspective, it's probably because the bioelectricity of the dead and the living are different, but I've never heard of zongzi crawling out of coffins on their own without any reason.

  Thinking of this, I calmed down and shone my flashlight to look at the third coffin. The lid of this coffin was flipped to one side, only covering half of it. As I shone the light over, I suddenly saw a pair of dark eyes staring at me.

  All of a sudden, I was not mentally prepared and was scared to the point where my whole body was shaking. Suddenly, a pair of hands emerged from the coffin, and before I could make a sound, one hand covered my mouth and the other grabbed my shoulder, pulling me into the coffin. I was dragged in by this great force, and my entire body was pulled inside. The flashlight fell to the ground with a "pa" sound and went out.

  But I didn't struggle at this time, because I found that the hand covering my mouth was warm and didn't have that special smell of zongzi, so I determined it wasn't a zongzi but a person.

  Who is it?

  I didn't move, pressed on that person's body, in front of me was pitch black, couldn't see anything, but the tip of my nose smelled a faint bloody smell, and suppressed breathing, airflow sprayed beside my cheek.

  Then I heard the sound of footsteps outside, it was Old Six running. He had already run over to check and a faint flashlight beam shone in. With the weak light, I saw clearly the person who attacked me. For an instant, my brain buzzed because what I saw was Yuxuehua, and at this moment, he was covering my mouth with one hand and using the other to slowly push the stone coffin's lid aside.

  I heard a faint rubbing sound in my ear, it was the sound of the coffin lid moving. How much strength would it take to move a stone slab with one hand?

  The coffin lid was closed over me, and I was plunged into total darkness. At the same time, I heard footsteps stop in front of our coffins.

  Xiao Jiu isn't dead? Then are Xiuxiu and Luren A also alive? How did he end up here? How did he get in? Why drag me in? Why hide in the coffin?

  Hiding? What is Xiaohua hiding from?

  In the darkness, I stared with my eyes wide open, my head was a mess, then I reached out and patted Xiaohua's shoulder, signaling him to let go, I couldn't speak.

  Then Xiaohua released the hand covering my mouth, and I noticed that his body seemed to shudder slightly as he moved his arm. Connecting this with the bloody smell inside the stone coffin, could it be that he was injured?

  I have a belly full of questions, but I can't ask any of them.

  Lao Liu stood still beside the coffin, seemingly observing us, he was a very cautious person.

  Next, I heard a rubbing sound by my ear, and the stone coffin was moved away from the gap. A faint light came in, and then Xiaohua quickly stretched out her hand and instantly covered the stone coffin tightly. I don't know if Lao Liu noticed us, but anyone who encounters an unopenable coffin will have some taboo.

  Outside, Lao Liu had been quiet for a long time, and just then I heard the footsteps of a second person.

  Suddenly, faintly came the sound of a conversation: "Dad, how is it you?"

  "Why is it just you?"

  Lao Liu said, "Sorry, the person is gone, but his nephew is in my hands... Shh, it seems like he's also gone." His voice seemed to be somewhat helpless and was pressed lower, with a hint of fear.

  "Never mind him, where did you come from? Let's get out of here first."

  Lao Liu said: "What? Leave... is!" He seemed to have many questions, but still listened to the man's words and nodded in agreement immediately.

  Although their conversation was only brief, I still made out that second voice - it was passerby A.

  Lao Liu and Passerby A are in cahoots, and judging from their conversation, it seems that Passerby A is the leader. So, the person Xiaohua needs to hide from is Passerby A? What exactly did they go through? Who caused Xiaohua's injury?

  I thought the two would leave, but just as their voices had fallen, a strange grinding sound suddenly echoed in my ears. This sound was all too familiar - it was the sound of Zongzi rising from the dead.

  Since the Dragon Boat Festival, I have done a lot of learning about zongzi knowledge, such as the earliest book that records zongzi, "Zang Lun", which was written earlier than "Zang Shu". Only fragments of it have been passed down to this day. Due to its obscure content and rarity in the market, I could only find one copy in a corner of an old library, and it was published in 1989.

  "In the 'Burial Theory', glutinous rice dumplings were first recorded, with the scientific name being 'Jiangshi'. It is said: Those who die but do not perish are called 'Gui', those who perish but do not rot are called 'Jiang', and those Jiang that rise to cause harm are called 'Hai'. In terms of teeth, sounds like knocking on wood are 'Hard Corpses', sounds in the skeletal system are 'Living Corpses', and sounds at the soles of the feet are 'Fake Corpses'."

  The general meaning of this passage is that: the dead who are like the living are Jiao, and the corpses that do not rot after death are Zong. When a Zong rises from the dead, it will bring harm to one side. The distinction between Zongs can be made by listening to their sounds. If the sound comes from the teeth, like knocking on a wooden door, it is a hard Zong. If the sound comes from the bones, with joints that are flexible and active, it is a living corpse. If the sound comes from the soles of the feet, it is a fake corpse.

  I've never seen a puppet like this before, it's dead but can still talk and move as if it were alive, thinking about it also feels impossible.

  I've seen stiff corpses and living dead, the blood corpse of Lu Wang Palace, with flexible joints and a heartbeat, is one type of living dead, and I've seen many other stiff corpses.

  Although I've never seen a fake corpse, I've heard that many rural villages still retain the custom of stopping corpses after death. After seven days, there are still large and small rituals, and it's often ten days or half a month before they can be buried. During this process, sometimes the corpse will suddenly sit up from the coffin, with eyes that can even move, as if about to become a stiff corpse, but without actually coming back to life. All that's needed is for relatives to come forward and sincerely comfort it, or for chicken blood to be placed around it, and the corpse will lie down again. This situation is what is referred to as a "fake corpse" in "The Funeral Rites".

  And what I'm hearing now is like the sound of teeth grinding, a real and crisp hard walnut, followed by a voice from passerby A that makes no sense, then it's gunshots, shouts, and fighting sounds, as if performing a big play.

  I reckon it's Passerby A and Zongzi who got into a fight. It was only then that I quietly asked Xiaohua, "What's going on?"

  Xiao Hua was just about to speak when I suddenly noticed his eyes were wide with surprise.

  No, it's clearly dark here, pitch black, so how could I suddenly see Xiao Hua's expression?

  Could it be... the coffin lid opened?

  My heart skipped a beat, and I immediately turned my head to the side. Indeed, the coffin lid had somehow opened a thin slit, through which a faint light was shining. Outside the slit, a pair of eyes were staring straight at us two, who knows for how long.

  Those eyes had only whites, without black pupils.

  I was suddenly numb with fear, my whole body feeling as if it had been drenched in cold water, from head to toe. At this moment, a pair of dry, purple hands inserted themselves through the narrow opening, and on those hands, the dark green fingernails were at least an inch long, the fingers twisted like tree roots, with the palms facing upwards. Then, with a loud bang, the stone coffin covering our bodies was knocked away, and simultaneously, a male corpse with its entire body exposed appeared before my eyes.

  Right after that, I was pushed hard by Xiaohua and bounced out of the coffin like a corpse. Before I could even react, a gust of cool wind blew past my ear, followed by a foul smell rushing over me. A sharp pain shot through my arm, and then hot liquid started flowing down.

  Damn it, this zongzi is going too fast!

  I felt a pain in my arm, and suddenly I was short of stature. One foot kicked back, but unfortunately my right heel was like a cripple's, and when my left foot kicked, it seemed to kick an iron plate. My right foot was unstable, and with a thud, I fell into the coffin again.