Chapter 31 Ghostly Fog

As I sat there in this cramped, dark space next to a coffin, I suddenly heard a ghostly cry come from the walkie-talkie—it sounded like someone was crying and chanting something in a shaky voice. Startled, I quickly turned down the volume and tapped on the walkie-talkie to see if it was broken.

This was a military-grade walkie-talkie produced by Moto. It had a plastic casing which made it very suitable for use in harsh environments so it shouldn’t break so easily. I turned it off and on several times, but the strange sound from before was gone. There was, however, an intermittent burst of static sound as if someone were trying to talk, but I couldn’t hear the words clearly. I even tried shouting into it a few times, but it didn’t get any better and changing the frequency didn’t seem to help either.

I used to fiddle with electronics, so I knew that these kinds of sounds weren’t the result of something physically wrong with the walkie-talkie but something interfering with the radio waves. There were many reasons for such interference, ranging from sunspots to small household appliances, all of which could have the same effect. We were deep underground now so there was little chance of being affected by sunspots. There also wouldn’t be any household appliances in a cave deep in the forest-covered mountains. Where exactly was this interference coming from?

I moved the walkie-talkie around in hopes of finding the source of the interference, and soon found that as long as it was close to the huge coffin, the noise would intensify. If I moved it farther away, the noise would abate. The whole thing was very strange. Was the source of the interference coming from inside the coffin? I carefully put the walkie-talkie into the gap between the coffin lid and the base of the coffin, and the noise suddenly seemed to explode, as if someone had suddenly screamed. I was so startled that I almost dropped the walkie-talkie into the coffin.

Shit, I thought to myself, it looks like I was right. Something inside this coffin is emitting irregular electromagnetic waves. This is unbelievable. Is it a natural phenomenon or is there something strange inside?

I knew that plants could emit weak electromagnetic signals, and the signals they emitted would be different based on the environmental conditions. For example, if you played soothing music to a plant or cut it with a knife, it would send out two completely different signals. This kind of thing was called the language of plants. But these signals were extremely weak, so even if you used special equipment, you may not be able to detect them, let alone pick them up with an ordinary walkie-talkie.

There were some special cases where electromagnetic signals strong enough to affect communications could be generated under natural conditions, such as the eve of an earthquake or during a volcanic eruption. But this kind of interference was destructive and would never be as mild as what I was seeing now.

I glanced at the huge coffin and suddenly thought of an unlikely possibility— strange, continuous electromagnetic interference was often said to occur in the vicinity of a large-scale massacre or a large burial ground. Some said it was generated by the energy from the decaying corpses while others said that it was a message from a large number of ghosts. Could this strong electromagnetic signal be coming from the corpse in the coffin?

The light here was extremely dim, so the pale roots of the old banyan trees looked like deformed snake skeletons under my headlamp’s glow. That, coupled with the hair-raising noises coming from the walkie-talkie, almost made it feel like something inside the coffin was urging me to climb in. My whole body was covered in goosebumps and my mind was a complete mess, so I quickly pulled the walkie-talkie out of the coffin and turned it off.

As the surroundings immediately became quiet, I suddenly felt dizzy—I was probably lacking oxygen because of the damp air and strange smell here. I looked around and suddenly felt a chill in my heart, something I had never felt the whole way here.

I could hear Boss Wang yelling something from outside, presumably because he couldn’t hear me responding. He was probably standing right by the entrance, stamping his feet in agitation. His shouts, filtered through about six layers of tree roots, sounded very faint and unintelligible to me, as if a person wrapped in a dozen quilts were trying to hear what someone outside was saying to him.

It was only a few minutes ago that I had been thinking about tricking Boss Wang into coming down here and subduing him, but now I changed my mind. It would be better to leave this place for now. Not only was it very evil, but staying for a long time was really uncomfortable. This was mainly due to the fact that I was all alone down here. If there were two or three more people with me, I knew I’d be able to remain calm.

I thought about it over and over again, my old habit of indecisiveness rearing its ugly head. But in the end, I still couldn’t make up my mind. Boss Wang continued shouting from outside for a while longer but eventually stopped. Then I heard him swear loudly a few times before quieting down again. He probably didn’t know what to do, but based on his temperament, I knew he wasn’t the type to come down here and check on the situation. People like him who worked in this business were arrogant and rude to other people, but would become instinctively afraid when hearing about a coffin in such a strange place. This was because coffins represented the undeniable truth that wealth and power were useless in the face of death. A higher authority like that, which couldn’t be overcome by humans no matter how hard they tried, was a difficult concept for grave robbers to understand.

As I was lost in thought, I suddenly heard that clicking sound again, as if someone’s teeth were chattering. I couldn’t tell where it came from, but the sound was much clearer than it was when I was outside.

Now that I could hear it more clearly, I realized that it could more aptly be described as the sound of someone walking on a stone floor in clogs. But the sound didn’t fluctuate, so it didn’t seem like the person was walking back and forth. Instead, it seemed like they were… jumping in place.

In this quiet environment, that rhythmic sound was enough to make one’s hair stand on end. I was already feeling afraid before, but now this sound was like the finishing blow—even my heart started to tremble in time with it.

But after thinking about it for a second, I suddenly realized that something wasn’t quite right. How could I be so afraid? I should have overcome this fear by now. I calmed myself down, took off my gas mask, and sniffed the air around me. In principle, gas masks could remove some odors that were harmful to the human body so whatever smell came through had already been filtered. The characteristic smells of poisonous substances would usually be filtered out, but in special cases, the poisonous substances could still pass through the mask and poison the wearer.

The smell around me was very irritating to my nose and caused me to sneeze and break out in a cold sweat as soon as I took a breath, so I quickly put my mask back on.

I listened for a while longer, but the sound seemed like it was only coming from one spot. After turning my head, I realized that the source of the sound seemed to be coming from inside the stone coffin.

Sweating even more now, I pulled out the long-handled hunting knife and crawled towards the gap to see if I could hear it more clearly. My heart was beating louder and louder as I got closer, and by the time I reached the edge of the gap, it almost felt like it was going to leap out of my throat.

I knew right away that the creepy environment here had gotten to me. I thought that I had overcome this problem a while ago, but now it seemed that I actually hadn’t. A rich imagination was the worst thing you could have in this line of work. As I repeatedly told myself to calm down, I imagined that the light around me was brighter and my surroundings weren’t so dark. After taking a few deep breaths, I was finally able to calm my restless heart.

I sighed and turned to press my ear closer to the coffin, trying to figure out what the sound was, but at this time, the noise suddenly stopped and a ghostly silence filled the space. This sudden change already had me feeling terrified, but then I suddenly felt something land on my shoulder!

My hair stood on end, my vision went dark, and I started swinging the hunting knife around like a madman. My headlamp suddenly hit one of the nearby tree roots and went out, causing my surroundings to plunge into absolute darkness. Then, I felt something grab my hand and viciously yank it behind my back. I was so scared that I completely lost my ability to think and let out a fierce cry as I used all of my strength to try and turn over. As I lay there struggling, I heard one of the tree roots under my body snap. Then I—along with my attacker—suddenly fell into a shallow pit.

When I landed, I heard someone curse, “You shitty brat!” Then a flashlight turned on, and I saw that Boss Wang was pinning me to the ground. The flashlight was shining right into my eyes, almost blinding me, so I tried to cover them with my hands. But as soon as I moved, Boss Wang suddenly punched me. He didn’t hold back at all, and I could soon feel the cool, wet sensation of blood flowing from my nose.

After he hit me, he started cursing me out, “You piece of shit! I try to give you face yet you dare to act so shameless?! Were you trying to trick me? I’ll send you to hell right now!”

I immediately realized what was going on. This damned fatty from Guangdong finally managed to summon up enough courage to sneak in. Not hearing any response from me, this guy probably thought that I was playing a trick on him and decided to come in. But in order to protect himself from any surprise attacks, he must have kept his flashlight off as he secretly crawled here. Unfortunately, he stumbled across me and put his hand on my shoulder right as I was listening to that ghostly jumping sound. Although I nearly stabbed him with the knife because I was scared out of my wits, he probably thought that I was intentionally trying to kill him.

I tried to explain, but he suddenly grabbed me by the throat, preventing me from speaking. He looked absolutely furious as he pulled his arm back and punched me again. Although my ears were ringing, I suddenly became angry as well. Fuck you, you bastard! I thought to myself. If you’re willing to hit me like this, that means you don’t even see me as a person! I immediately hit him with all of my strength, sending the two of us rolling across the ground again. As he punched and I kicked, we rolled all the way to the edge of the coffin. He was stronger than me, so he managed to take advantage of the momentum to pin me to the ground. He then raised his head—probably to strangle me again—but the ceiling here was too short and he ended up bumping his head on a tree root. Seeing him momentarily dazed, I took the opportunity to kick him in the crotch and throw him off of me. Then I rushed over, grabbed his flashlight, and smashed it against his head.

I pinned him to the ground, checked to ensure that he couldn’t move for the time being, and then used his flashlight to look around. As it turned out, this asshole didn’t bring his equipment or gun in with him—he must have felt that the tunnel here was too narrow and that he might accidentally hurt himself. I went to search him again, trying to confiscate his knife, but then he suddenly pushed me up. Just like he did moments ago, I bumped my head against the top of the cave hard enough to see stars. I quickly turned to the side to avoid his incoming blow, feeling as if my brains were about to come out of my nose.

Boss Wang got up. His body was covered in thin root tendrils and crushed fungi, his expression was twisted in anger, he was panting for breath, and his eyes were red-rimmed. I knew that he was looking to kill. People like him who started out as gangsters and climbed up the ranks step by step were usually full of bloodlust and always wanted to kill their opponent at every turn. It seemed that this time, I was really going to have to fight to the death.

Boss Wang took a few breaths before swiftly pulling his dagger from his belt. Then, holding it in a reverse grip, he started to approach me with a menacing look in his eyes. My hunting knife was half the size of his, so even if I could manage to stab him, it wasn’t like it would seriously injure him. My only other weapon was the flashlight I had stolen from him. I tried to distract him by shining it in his eyes, but this damned fatty was very clever—he immediately turned his head to avoid the bright light and rushed towards me as quick as lightning. He thrust the knife toward my neck but I ducked my head, grabbed his knife-wielding hand with my left hand, and then turned off the flashlight with my right hand.

His eyes had become accustomed to the bright light, so when it suddenly went out, he instinctively froze for a second. Remembering where his head was positioned just now, I raised my arm and swung the flashlight at him as hard as I could. I heard a muffled groan come from the darkness in front of me. The impact of the blow also caused the flashlight to turn on again, so I quickly got a look at his current position—he was lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious, with his mouth covered in blood.

Unsure whether he was pretending to be unconscious or if had actually fainted this time, I kicked him towards the gap in the coffin. If he was conscious, then he would definitely put up a resistance; otherwise, he’d end up falling into the coffin. I kicked him several times in a row until his feet finally slipped into the gap, but unfortunately, when it came to his chest, he got stuck. I went up and gave him a hard kick, finally succeeding in pushing him inside.

As I watched Boss Wang, who had been stuck there like a dead fish for a long time, suddenly slip into the gap with ease, I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he was really unconscious. But at this time, a fat hand suddenly stretched out of the gap, grabbed onto the leg I had kicked him with, and pulled me down.

Since I had already relaxed, I was completely caught off guard. All I had time to register was a blurred image of my surroundings as I was dragged into the coffin. I’m screwed! I cried out in my heart. Despite all that, I actually fell in! I can’t believe such a thing actually happened! In a panic, I scrabbled to latch onto anything around me, but my hands came up empty and I found myself falling straight into endless darkness!

Boss Wang dragged me all the way down with him. I originally thought that this coffin was only as tall as a person, but now that I had fallen into it, I found that my initial judgement was wrong—there was a depression in it that seemed to go straight into the bronze tree. I slid for about three or four meters before my butt landed on something hard enough to make me cry out in pain. Boss Wang also let me go, presumably intending to continue our fight.

I immediately used his flashlight to illuminate my surroundings, trying to see if Boss Wang was next to me. But after sweeping the light back and forth, all I saw was endless gray fog. It was so thick that I couldn’t see anything even half a meter in front of me.

I stood up and quickly swept the flashlight all around me, but I didn’t see anything at all. The fog here was so thick that Boss Wang probably couldn’t see anything either and was using it as a cover to hide his presence.

I couldn’t help but find the situation odd—how could there be such a thick fog in this coffin? Even if it had come from incense, it was unlikely that it would’ve remained in the air after a thousand years. I waved my hand and found that the fog was so thick, it almost seemed like water. Even the swirling airflow from my hand movement was visible to the naked eye.

I couldn’t see what was at the center of this coffin at all, nor did I dare to go any deeper. All I could do was see if I could somehow climb back up the side of the coffin I had slipped down just now. I looked up, but couldn’t see anything besides the tree roots. Despite what I had initially thought, they didn’t wildly grow in the gap but instead stuck to the inner walls and bottom of the coffin, almost like ivy. I took a closer look and found that these roots were covered with a fuzzy fungi similar to mold that would fall apart at the slightest touch.

There were also a few relief sculptures on the walls where the roots didn’t grow. I could tell at a glance that some of the carvings appeared to be in the same style as those of the four statues standing outside, but most of them were hidden by the roots. My knife blade was too thin to cut the roots covering these patterns, but I did manage to cut off a few of the younger roots. There was nothing I could do about the older, hardened roots sticking to the walls, however. Trying to cut them with a knife was like cutting a stone—the only thing left behind was a white scratch mark.

Even so, I could still make out some of what was depicted on them. They appeared to show the scene of the ancient bronze tree’s construction. The people in the relief sculptures were dressed in clothes that were wrapped left-over-right, a clear indicator that they belonged to an ethnic minority group. And to my surprise, I found that the bronze tree was divided into segments. It seemed that this giant structure wasn’t cast at one time but may have been done over several generations, casting section by section until it finally became the spectacular work of art we saw today.

There were many relief sculptures, but I didn’t dare walk around carelessly. After examining the one in front of me, I turned around and looked back at the fog behind me. An inexplicable fear suddenly came over me, so I stepped on the nearby tree roots and got ready to climb back up to the top.

But the strange thing was, although the roots seemed like they’d be very good for climbing, I ended up sliding down each time I tried, as if I were stepping on ice. When I touched them again, I found that the fungus growing on them was very slippery after it was squashed, just like oil. It seemed like climbing up was going to be difficult.

I took a moment to calm down and think about what I should do. It seemed that my only options were to either scrape off the fungus before I climbed up or use my knife as a pickaxe, but I didn’t know if either of those would work.

As I was pondering over my problem, that strange clicking sound suddenly appeared again. But this time, it was coming from behind me, sounding unusually clear and very close.

<Chapter 30><Table of Contents><Chapter 32>

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God, I hardly remember this book lol. Is that noise the sewing machine?