The World Below Surface
Chapter 86

A soft glow filled the tomb chamber, creating a stark contrast with the darkness outside.

Two shadows appeared at the doorway, barely recognizable as human. They had suffered unspeakable horrors on their way here, and their bodies showed the signs of their ordeal. They looked more like spectres than explorers, and anyone who saw them would have fled in terror.

"This is it. We made it. Look for the jade pendant," Yi Yun said, her voice breaking as she sobbed. She wiped her tears with her sleeve, but they kept falling.

"I need the jade pendant. I need to go home."

"My little one..."

She moved forward, clutching Lu Yan's arm. He followed her, his steps unsteady.

They entered the chamber, where a huge coffin dominated the space. It was half as tall as they were, and covered with intricate carvings. Candles surrounded it, casting a flickering light on the walls.

"Where are they? Where are the treasures?" Yi Yun scanned the chamber, looking for any sign of the burial items they had come for. She couldn't replace anything, and her heart sank. She let out a scream of frustration and despair.

"No! It can't be! There has to be something!"

"Where is it? Where is the jade pendant?"

Yi Yun's voice echoed in the tomb chamber, desperate and frantic. She followed Lu Yan, who had moved to the other side of the coffin. They stopped in their tracks, stunned by what they saw.

Behind the coffin, a pile of corpses lay in a grotesque heap. They all wore the same uniforms. Their flesh was rotting, barely clinging to their bones, but their faces were still recognizable.

They knew them. They had been their comrades on the way here, the group of archaeologists.

"What is this? How did they...?" Yi Yun gasped, unable to finish her sentence. "How did they get here?"

They had seen them die, one by one, infected by a strange green parasite that had invaded their bodies. But these corpses were clean, free of any sign of the infection.

What had happened to them? Had they been dead all along?

Lu Yan approached the bodies, inspecting them with a grim expression. He could tell they had been dead for at least three days.

"Three days, that means they were..." Yi Yun whispered, half to herself, half to him.

Lu Yan didn't reply. He was more concerned about the missing occupant of the tomb. Where had he gone?

They didn't have time to ponder, though. The tomb door slammed shut behind them, making Yi Yun jump.

Meanwhile, in a dark corner of the chamber, a candle flickered and died. It was as if someone had leaned over and snuffed it out with a breath.

But for now, neither of them noticed.

Yi Yun scanned the chamber, looking for any clue of the jade pendant. She had hoped to replace it among the treasures, but there were none. It had to be in the coffin, then. It had to be.

She moved closer to the coffin, reaching out with a skeletal hand. She slowly lifted the lid, ignoring the pain that shot through her arm. As soon as her fingers touched the wood, she felt her flesh rotting away, faster than ever.

She didn't care. She pushed harder, lifting the lid with all her remaining strength. She opened her eye, the only one she had left, and peered inside the coffin. What she saw made her scream, a sound of utter despair and horror.

Lu Yan joined her by the coffin, looking down at the empty space. He saw why she was screaming and falling apart.

There was nothing in the coffin. Nothing at all.

No body, no jewels, no jade pendant.

It was as if the owner of the tomb had never been there.

"How can this be? How can there be nothing? We risked everything... We sacrificed everything... How can there be nothing?"

"I have to go back... My daughter is waiting for me at home. She's so young... I can't leave her alone..."

A viscous, green fluid oozed from her eye sockets, emitting a foul odour, and splashed into the coffin. Yi Yun remained frozen, staring at the empty space. She didn't know what to do next.

Lu Yan turned away from her, walking towards the wall. He studied the relief murals, looking for any hidden meaning.

"What are you looking at, Lu Yan?" Yi Yun asked, a glimmer of hope in her voice. "Is there something wrong with this mural? Is there?"

Lu Yan glanced at her, his lone eye showing no emotion, no reaction. He said nothing, just dropped the bag from his back, took out a scroll, and laid it on the floor.

He was completing the map.

He had noticed that his body was decaying slower since they entered the tomb chamber. He had to use the time wisely, of course.

Yi Yun felt a surge of anger and frustration. She wanted to run over and stop him from drawing, to make him help her replace the jade pendant. She wanted to rip the map to shreds, but she didn't do anything. She clung to the last shred of hope, wandering around the chamber.

Another candle in the corner went out, plunging the chamber into deeper darkness.

Lu Yan finished the map quickly, it was easy for him. He put the map away, got up, and scanned the chamber, searching for new clues.

"Mr. Lu, come and see this." Yi Yun, who had regained some composure, called out to him. "There are more inscriptions on the wall, and they look familiar."

"These inscriptions and images were translated by Team Cen," Lu Yan remembered.

Team Cen had told them a story about a "god" and a "king," but on their way here, he had encountered another "god." Were they the same?

He closed his eyes, trying to recall the wall inscriptions that Team Cen had deciphered before.

Lu Yan compared the wall inscriptions with the story that Cen had told them. He noticed some patterns in the translation of the characters, which were simple and phonetic.

"These reliefs and the murals outside are the same, but the text is different."

Another candle went out in the corner, following a path that led to them.

Lu Yan felt a sudden unease as he looked at the inscriptions. They didn't match the story that Cen had told them.

According to Cen, the villagers had a "king" and a "god" who were kind and generous, who protected them from harm. They had hidden themselves because they were hiding from the world.

But these inscriptions and the reliefs told a different story. Lu Yan felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he studied them.

Something was wrong.

They had seen the murals from the outside in, as if that was the natural order.

But what if... the real order was from the inside out?

He tried to calm his racing heart, as he translated the inscriptions, his eyes fixed on the reliefs.

Reversing the story of Cen interpretation...

"...Long ago, there was a mountain, a very, very dangerous one. Those who dwelled in the mountain were cursed. They had fled from the chaos of war, and settled there, refusing to leave. But they soon found out that their children were also cursed. They had no choice but to secretly ask for the protection of a guardian spirit, to ensure the survival of the village. But the guardian spirit demanded a high price. They had to offer hefty sacrifices every year. And they had to bury the dead in a forbidden area, making them bear the curse of the living, so that they could live in peace...

Yi Yun looked puzzled. "Lu Yan, what are you saying?"

Lu Yan's voice, which seldom showed any emotion, sounded dreamy. "There may be another version of the story about the king."

He kept reading, whispering the words.

"Later, the world outside grew more violent, and more people sought shelter. A group of soldiers from a mysterious land, armed and looking for a burial place for their king, came as well. Led by their commander, they clashed with the villagers."

"It was a deadly conflict, but only a conflict between mortals so the guardian spirit ignored it, continuing sleeping... Some people tried to escape, risking their lives. When they left the mountain, a wicked spirit that had carried their curse for so long rose from the back mountain."

"A battle raged between the wicked spirit and the guardian spirit. In the end, the wicked spirit was pushed back to the back mountain, but the guardian spirit was greatly weakened. For the next sixty cycles of rebirth, the soldiers forced the villagers to build an underground palace..."

Lu Yan's voice became a whisper as he read the inscription, "The king, who was favoured by the spirits in his life, received a... " He paused and looked at Yi Yun, his only eye piercing her. "He got a double fish jade pendant and the secret of immortality."

Yi Yun's ears perked up at the mention of the double fish jade pendant. She lifted her head, trying to see the details of the relief on the sculpture.

"Yes, that's it... that has to be it..." She stretched out her hand, but it was too short. The tomb chamber was too high and wide, and the relief was too big. They were like ants under the sculpture, which was as tall as several people.

Yi Yun begged Lu Yan, "Please, can you help me get up there? I need that jade pendant." She couldn't reach it without his help.

Lu Yan said nothing.

They wouldn't be able to reach it even if they stood on each other's shoulders. And it wasn't a real double fish jade pendant; it was just part of the sculpture. He told her this, and then resumed reading.

"The king was laid to rest in the mountain, as he had wished, surrounded by a wealth of treasures. Soldiers slaughtered many villagers to join him in death, believing that this sacrifice would revive their king. Faithful soldiers have guarded the village, waiting for the king's resurrection for sixty years."

"They had spilled too much blood, and the evil spirits in the back mountains grew stronger. To keep them at bay, they had to sacrifice living people. They called upon the protective spirits that the villagers had summoned, to fight against the wicked ones."

"The Five Great Spirits loathed their king, and refused to protect them. So, the soldiers devised a plan. They found a boy in the village and said he was the rebirth of their king. They dressed him in the finest silk, gave him the tastiest food, and made him a throne."

"The boy's family thought they had struck a fortune, and quickly agreed. But his sister was not happy. The soldiers, with great care, treated the boy as their king for a whole year, until the next sacrifice, when they planned to make the boy take the place of their doomed king."

"The boy's family learned of this scheme, and, after talking it over, switched the names and birthdates of the boy and the girl. So, the sister went instead of her brother."

"...The girl was thrown into the river, and the protective spirits despised that king. As a result, the girl suffered unspeakable agony..."

Lu Yan gazed at the relief, showing the girl standing in the blood river that encircled the village, half of her body exposed, surrounded by screaming people.

"The soldiers, ignorant and afraid of the girl's vengeance, sealed her in a coffin, making sure she couldn't reach the back mountains even in death. After that year's sacrifice, the protective spirit that the villagers had summoned sighed in relief. But they were still weak, and they could only replace a girl to summon..."

Lu Yan remembered the scene in the Village of the Heavenly Immortals.

The sister took the place of the brother.

Was this not the tale of Zhang Hui Xuan?

So, it was the sister who felt hatred for her brother, who scorned everyone in the village, even the guardian spirits who watched over them.

Behind them, more than half of the candles had gone out. Lu Yan was absorbed in the story of the relief, while Yi Yun climbed with difficulty, trying to reach the jade pendant carved from stone above their heads.

Lu Yan stepped back and noticed a smaller relief in the corner.

It showed a young boy digging a grave.

In the next scene, he lifted the lid of the small coffin in the grave and removed a nail. In the third scene, he put the coffin back in the grave.

Did Zhang Hui Xuan escape? Did she kill them all, including the guardian spirit who inhabited Li Li? Was it the brother's remorse or curiosity? Lu Yan could not tell.

Only then did he sense something wrong behind him.

The light was fading?

He was about to turn around, when a surge of dread gripped him, his intuition warning him – don't look back!

What was behind him?

A huge shadow crept into his vision, obscuring his own shadow. The shadow grew larger, showing that its source was getting closer.

"Yi Yun! Watch out! Get down now!" Lu Yan shouted.

Yi Yun had climbed high up.

The tomb chamber could slow down the rotting, but not stop it. Most of her flesh had fallen off, leaving behind a green skeleton covered with fungus. She had kept going by sheer force of will. When she heard Lu Yan's voice, she was about to look down, but he said, "Don't look! Come down from the other side!"

The monster behind him was too big, and climbing higher wouldn't help. Lu Yan thought quickly, measured the distance between him and the coffin behind him, and threw the scroll in his hand with a strong toss. It landed inside the coffin with a dull thud.

Then, he moved forward, without turning his head.

He felt a cold breath on his neck, and it didn't go away. He could almost taste the rotten stench, as if it had lingered for millennia.

What could he do?

He stood in front of the bas-relief, trapped. There was no way forward, unless he followed Yi Yun's example and climbed up, hiding behind the bas-relief.

The candles in the tomb flickered and died. The shadows behind him grew darker, no... the whole tomb was sinking into blackness. In the dimness, the bas-relief looked more sinister and horrifying.

He could easily picture what would happen when the tomb was swallowed by darkness.

Yi Yun had reached the "king."

Her body was falling apart, leaving a glowing trail in the dark. Yi Yun stretched out her hand, trying to grab the carved Pisces jade pendant. It was the only thing she cared about, the only thing she saw.

But she couldn't pull it off.

It was a stone carving, stuck in the hand of the "king."

"Please, Lu Yan... Please... I've searched so long for it, I've given everything for it..." Yi Yun sobbed, her hands reaching for the stone-carved twin fish jade pendant.

She couldn't get it.

Her legs, which had rotted away, failed her. She lost her balance and fell from the bas-relief, landing hard on the floor and coughing up blood.

Her breathing slowed down, her eyes still wide open, gazing at the bas-relief, trying to see what she wanted in the dark.

Lu Yan bent down to hear her, and he caught her faint voice.

"The jade pendant... Nannan..."

A cold shadow crept up behind him, almost touching his body, sending a shiver down his spine.

Before the shadow could reach him, Lu Yan reached out, putting his hand on Yi Yun's neck.

Snap.

Everything went black.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a museum. Parents and children walked around, enjoying the exhibits, filling the air with laughter and happiness.