Book 3: Chapter 50: Dark Spot

Book 3: Chapter 50: Dark Spot

In terms of cultural symbols, this underground palace was really interesting. The mural we saw when we first came down was an extension of the whole scene and represented the crowds gathering in this place. The mural we were looking at now had the same theme, but it wasnt showing a crowd gathering. Instead, it was showing a crowd leaving.

We could see a lot of people on the mural. They were walking into the distance and all had their backs to us.

It was a long line, but if you looked at what was in the distance, you would see that these people and some horse bones were starting to flock like sheep on the grassland. These peoples complexions looked blue and many of them were incomplete, making it obvious that they were corpses. And when we used our peripheral vision to look at the mural, we could see human figures on the outskirts of the crowd. They were riding around on horses and driving these corpses in one direction.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

The painting was very good, so the meaning could be recognized at a glance.

But what interested me the most was the top part of the mural, which showed that these corpses started to dig into the soil after some kind of ritual took place. And the things that were driving the corpses also entered the soil. They were all dressed up, and after entering the soil, they crawled into a circle and surrounded a hole.

Well, it wasnt a hole but more of a dark spot. But either way, I didnt know what it was referring to.

"In the mural from before, all the people were alive. But in this mural, all the people are dead. It looks like this is a Hongmen banquet(1)," Fatty said.

I touched my chin and thought to myself, this is obviously a view of life and death, but I just dont understand what its supposed to mean.

And I was pretty sure that this huge dark spot definitely existed, because I had seen those horse bones and the invisible ancient python corpse that kept appearing and disappearing on the grassland.

I patted my face and then slapped myself, which gave Fatty a fright.

When he asked me what was wrong, I grabbed my hair and said, "I regret it. I knew that we were coming to Inner Mongolia but I didnt study up on it. I dont care about the worlds second most valuable tomb at all. I underestimated the enemy and now people will die because of my inflated ego."

"You really havent offered up any useful assumptions, Mr. Nave. This isnt like you."

I looked at Poker-Face. I had never been so insecure in terms of intelligence before, so I ended up looking at him out of reflex.

Poker-Face walked up to the big dark spot, touched the mural with his strangely long fingers, and then stared at it blankly for a while. Just when I thought all three of us had really been struck dumb this time, Poker-Face said to me, "I know what this is."

I was moved to tears as the words my benefactor! got stuck in my throat.

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TN Notes:

(1) Its a banquet set up with the aim of murdering a guest. It also refers to a famous episode in 206 BC when future Han emperor Liu Bang escaped attempted murder by his rival Xiang Yu. Story of that event is here.