Chapter 20 Key

I looked down and saw that the object inside her mouth appeared to be a copper key inlaid with a pearl that was a dark green color. I figured it was extraordinary, but I couldn’t tell what the pearl was actually made of. I did know that the ancients sometimes put pearls inside corpses’ mouths to keep them from rotting, so if I took this key out, there was a chance this beautiful thousand-year-old corpse in front of me would instantly turn into a mummy. I would never risk doing such a terrifying thing, but I was currently in an awkward situation. It wasn’t like I could make my escape with this female corpse on my back.

While I sat there hesitating, I suddenly heard someone shouting from above. I looked up and saw a man hanging upside down above my head, a vine wrapped tightly around his legs as he screamed and fought seven or eight of those branches at the same time. It was none other than that damned fatty! He looked like he had suffered through the same fate as me, although he seemed to be covered in more wounds than I was. Fortunately, his head didn’t appear to be injured as he hung there and spouted off a string of curses, “Shit, I can’t believe these tree branches are so powerful even though they’re barely as thick as a dick!” Then he caught sight of me and froze, “Little comrade, are you getting busy with that flower girl?”⁽¹⁾

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but I didn’t dare speak too loudly as I gestured and said, “She’s dead! Quickly help me think of a way to get out of this!”

The fat guy let out an exclamation, wiggled his butt in the air, and then said to me, “Then help me get down first!”

I threw the dagger in my hand up to him, and he immediately caught it and leaned up to cut the vine off of his legs. I didn’t realize it at first, but by the time I remembered what had happened to me, it was already too late. I was about to tell him to wait a second, but he suddenly fell down with a strange cry and landed on top of the armored corpse, knocking its mask off in the process. I started to lean over and look at it but the fat guy suddenly turned around and shouted at me, “Don’t look! This is a green-eyed fox!”

Unfortunately, his warning came too late; I had already seen the face under the mask. With that quick glance, my mind was buzzing and my whole body broke out in goosebumps. “How is this a person?!” I stammered.

Under the mask was a pallid white face which, upon closer inspection, still vaguely had human facial features. There wasn’t any hair on this corpse’s head, he didn’t have any eyebrows, nor did he have a beard. His face was so pointed that it already looked a bit deformed and his eyes were basically just long slits, those two green eyes emitting a cold light from within them. His other facial features were practically indistinguishable, but I could say after just one glance that this face definitely looked like a human-faced fox that was grinning evilly.

But his two green eyes looked even more bizarre. To be honest, I was able to deal with looking at ordinary corpses but I didn’t dare look this particular one directly in the eyes. It was too scary. In fact, seeing such a thing without being able to mentally prepare yourself was absolutely terrifying. Even the fat guy was scared to death. He immediately rolled off the jade platform and said in a shocked voice, “I can’t believe it! King Shang of Lu actually looks like this?”

“Is this really King Shang of Lu?” I asked him. “Why does he look like… like a fox?”

The fat guy glanced at the armored corpse before saying, “A friend of mine told me that this is called a ‘green-eyed fox corpse’. A long time ago, a man robbed an ancient tomb of an unknown dynasty. After opening the coffin, he found that there was a green-eyed fox lying on top of the corpse. The fox was a demon-like thing, and the fact that it was lying on top of the corpse was a very bad omen. That mojin should have put everything back the way it was but he was inexperienced and unwilling to leave empty-handed so he secretly stole a jade turtle. A few years later, he washed his hands of the business and went back to his hometown where he married his wife. Later, his wife became pregnant and gave birth to a child. But when the midwife delivered the baby, she suddenly screamed and fainted. The man rushed in and saw that the baby had green eyes. At first, he didn’t realize that the fox was to blame; he just thought that the child had a strange disease. He went around seeking medical advice everywhere, but not only did the child’s illness remain uncured, his hair gradually started falling out and his face looked more and more like that of a fox. It was only at this time that the mojin discovered the true cause of his child’s illness. So, he made the long and difficult trek back to the ancient tomb and put the jade turtle back. Since then, the child’s illness didn’t worsen, but that strange, fox-like face never changed back.”

He clicked his tongue and added, “But this green-eyed fox corpse is very strange. I heard that if you look at him, he’ll infect you and your face will gradually become like his. Did you look at him just now?”

Although I didn’t quite believe it, I couldn’t help but shiver when I heard that my face might become like this monster’s. “Don’t talk nonsense,” I scolded him. “Whether my face will change or not is a matter for the future. Just help me get out of this situation first!”

The fat guy also seemed to agree that he shouldn’t be yapping on like this given the current situation and quickly rushed over to help me break free from the female corpse’s grip. But even though he made several attempts using his full strength, the female corpse’s arms were like immovable iron bands. He gave two hard tugs but only ended up panting from exhaustion in the end. When he saw the nervous look in my eyes, he quickly tried to comfort me, “Don’t worry. This Fat Master has plenty of tricks. If none of them work, I can just cut off her hand.”

“No!” I hurriedly shouted. “Absolutely not! What if there’s corpse poison in her body? And I don’t feel any hatred towards her. It’s too mean to cut off her hand at our first meeting.”

The fat guy scratched his head, but there was nothing else he could do. “Generally speaking,” he said to me, “when a corpse is dead but its body isn’t stiff, that means it must have an unfulfilled wish. If you make her wish come true, she should let go of you naturally. Why don’t you think about it? Did anything special happen when she hooked her arms around you just now?”

I thought back on it and suddenly remembered that when I got up just now, her mouth had suddenly opened and there seemed to be something inside that looked like a key. Was that it? After thinking of this, I carefully straightened the female corpse’s head and whispered to her, “Please forgive me.” Then I pressed her cheeks until those apricot-colored lips parted slightly. I immediately saw that there really was a key inlaid with a green pearl under her tongue.

The fat guy cried out in amazement, “Shit, this is a good thing! She must want you to take that key out. Just think, she has such a small mouth so it must be uncomfortable with that key in there.”

“What if she bites my hand?” I asked nervously.

The fat guy became impatient and said, “Look at you. Your whole body is full of vulnerable spots. She could bite you anywhere so why would she want to bite your hand?”

I knew that he was right, so I steeled my heart while telling myself that it wouldn’t be a big deal to lose a finger or two. I then took a deep breath and stretched two trembling fingers towards the female corpse’s mouth. But just as I was about to touch her lips, I suddenly heard a voice in my ear say, “Stop.”　

<Chapter 19><Table of Contents><Chapter 21>　

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TN Notes:

(1) When the Japanese invaded China, they called Chinese women “flower girls”. This might go back to like WWII when they turned a lot of women they captured into sex slaves. If you couldn’t tell, Fatty is basically asking Wu Xie if he’s about to have sex with the female corpse. 

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SUPER sorry this is late (especially since it’s a shorter chapter). I have not had the will to do anything this week. At least you all won’t be left on cliffhangers since you can just read the licensed version hahaha