Book 3: Chapter 46: Corpse Country’s Underground Banquet

Book 3: Chapter 46: Corpse Country’s Underground Banquet

The four words Corpse Country boundary marker were actually in two different columns, but Fatty forced them together when he read them aloud so they sounded a little childish.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

The two Chinese characters for Corpse Country had obviously been engraved on the stone slab, and the sentences before and after them were: dig an opening to the east and lead the corpses to surround it so that it becomes the Corpse Country's city".

According to my understanding of ancient Chinese writing styles, this word was almost never used, so it must not be a specific noun but more of an adjective. The former corpse character referred to real corpses, while there was a certain possibility that the latter corpse character meant something like "existing but not playing a role". So, Corpse Country was a country that existed but didnt have any practical significance.

But there had been cases where epitaphs sometimes referred to tombs as countries. I vaguely remembered that there had been a tomb owner who had the opportunity to become the leader of a vassal state, but his ambition wasnt realized in the end. So, he claimed that the area where his tomb was located was a country, which he would enjoy after death. We had seen some miniature clay sculptures of a city in that tomb, along with clay figurines of common people that were only the size of a thumb. The figures in the murals were also very small so that he could paint a vast territory on the walls of his small tomb.

There was a very big secret in that tomb. I had gone down with an archaeological team, but I didn't look inside the coffin when it was opened, so I didnt know who the tomb owner was or what the secret was.

But in any case, a miniature world with a vast territory was just sad.

After coming all this way, we had finally encountered some Chinese characters, so I figured we should continue digging the stone tablet out. Our predecessors may have been obsessed with money, but we were more concerned with gathering intelligence and saving our own lives. I tried to dig the stone tablet out, but found that the soil layers above and below were in a very critical state. As a result, I had no choice but to give up.

We continued moving forward, the process almost the same as mine clearance. We could fling the soil out whenever we encountered a relatively solid place, but when we encountered a place with particularly soft soil, we had to gently dig like we were cleaning out the mountains ears. As soon as we managed to create a passable space, we started reinforcing the tunnel with tree branches.

My attention was so extremely focused at this time that it was like I had the professional brilliance of a construction worker. Although my knowledge of mechanics could be considered average, when it came to simple reinforcements, I could quickly figure out whether our safety was guaranteed or not.

Finally, at around three o'clock in the morning, the entrance to the underground palace appeared in front of us.

The entrance turned out to be a rock wall that had been destroyed at some point. We were probably at the core of the mountain, and the underground palace was an artificial cave that had been dug out of the rock. Now there was a dog hole leading into this cave that was filled with soft soil. After we cleared it away, the entrance was fully revealed. It was dark inside and the temperature was very low.

I wanted to turn around and look at the murals on our side first, but Fatty tapped me on the shoulder and showed me some of the figurines. I pointed my flashlight at them and saw that some of those figurines had been marked with lipstick.

The lipstick marks I had seen on that figurine in the grove were incomplete, but they should have been the work of Shen Qianjue and her partner. And now that the ones I was looking at were complete, I could tell that they seemed somewhat similar to the pattern formed by sliding three fingers through sand at the same time.

This appeared to be their own symbol. I didnt know what it meant, but it was probably something simple like "this is valuable".

"This is the end point," I said to Fatty. "All of our clues led to this underground palace. So, where did those who are still alive go after they entered this underground palace? Whether we can find the clue pointing to this information depends on how meticulous we are."

Xiao Hua and the others must have been here already. Some moved on while most of them died here.

I began using my peripheral vision to look at the darkness nearby. When I found that it was fine and surprisingly clean, I turned to look at the murals I wanted to check out just now.

I still looked straight at it the first time, but then I immediately looked at it out of the corner of my eye. This was an unconscious move on my part, but I took a deep breath when I realized that the two images I saw before and after I used my peripheral vision had definitely changed.

Assuming that there were twelve people depicted on the mural when you looked straight at it, there appeared to be thirteen when you used your peripheral vision. This extra person couldnt be seen when you looked straight at the mural, but his appearance made the meaning of the whole thing completely different.

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TN Notes:

(1) Architectural style from early in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC). Its basically two vertical pillars supporting one horizontal beam or slab. Just think of it like a gate: