Fuxian Lake Bottom, Thousand-Year Wet Corpse

Fuxian Lake underwater ruins.

Chen Renfeng was cruising the lakebed in a civilian submarine.

Through his headset, the daily scheduled news broadcast came through. The host was discussing with an expert: "A ten-thousand-year-old female corpse, fresh and uncorrupted, was unearthed from the Kunlun Mountains glacier."

"It's speculated to be the Queen Mother of the West!"

The expert said, "As long as we perform an autopsy on the Queen Mother of the West and extract her memories, we can uncover the history of the Primordial World."

The host let out a choked laugh, and Chen Renfeng turned off the broadcast.

"Nonsense," he cursed in dissatisfaction, refocusing his attention outside the window.

Suddenly!

Directly in front of the submarine, thousands of ancient corpses appeared, suspended in the water in a half-crouched posture.

Chen Renfeng was stunned! He had forgotten to detour while listening to the broadcast, and a chill crawled up his spine.

It was too late, and a drastic change occurred!

More than a dozen ancient corpses became alert, their heads snapping around! Then, as if triggering some chain reaction, thousands of ancient corpses within his field of vision turned their heads simultaneously.

"Hiss!"

Where the ancient corpses' facial features should have been, there were only dark, hollow holes.

And from within those holes, sleek, dark green lake fish darted out. Their cold, fishy eyes reflected the light of the searchlights, converging into a chilling constellation of dots.

"Hiss!"

The dark green fish, dragging the ancient corpses, swarmed towards the lights densely!

Chen Renfeng gasped, his throat tightening. Terrified, he stomped on the accelerator pedal, and the submarine sped up, charging towards the suffocating horde of corpses.

Bang bang bang! Many were knocked flying!

Almost simultaneously, the panicked voice of Chen Qing, a member of the archaeological team, came through his headset:

"Pro-Professor! The bronze coffin... the bronze coffin doesn't contain withered bones! It's, it's..."

"What is it? Speak clearly!" Chen Renfeng asked while maneuvering the submarine through sharp turns in the corpse swarm!

Another female voice cut in, it was Bai Xue, also trembling, "It's a fresh corpse, two perfectly preserved fresh corpses! Just like... just like they were buried yesterday!"

Fresh corpses? At the bottom of Fuxian Lake in Southern Xinjiang, inside a bronze coffin in an ancient city that had sunk for over two thousand years?

Chen Renfeng became excited. "Hold the scene! I'll be there immediately!" he almost roared the command, stomping on the accelerator pedal again.

Thousands of ancient corpses turned and pursued, while the submarine fled ahead.

Twenty minutes later, the submarine dived into a cave and began to ascend rapidly.

Five minutes later, the submarine broke the surface and docked inside a natural stone cave, about three hundred square meters in area.

When the hatch opened, Chen Renfeng jumped out on his mechanical sheep and weaved through the dimly lit underwater structures.

Ten minutes later, he stopped before a pair of double bronze doors, three meters high.

Behind the doors, in a secret chamber, a portable light bulb illuminated the space brightly.

Chen Qing and Bai Xue sat on the ground, looking listless. Seeing the light, they both stood up.

Bai Xue, with her cool, mature demeanor, was pale-faced at the moment, her eyes filled with unease, and she could barely stand.

"Professor, hurry and take a look inside!" Even Chen Qing, with his earnest eyebrows and bright eyes, sounded unsteady.

Chen Renfeng secretly thought, Could there be something even more terrifying? He strode into the secret chamber.

In the center of the room, a massive bronze coffin was placed quietly.

The lid had been removed and leaned against the side.

He walked to the edge of the coffin and peered inside.

Within the coffin lay a young man and woman dressed in magnificent, bright red wedding attire. Their faces were ruddy, their skin plump, as if they were merely in a deep sleep and would awaken at any moment.

However, the instant Chen Renfeng saw their faces, his pupils contracted.

Identical!

He recoiled sharply in shock, his heel hitting a protruding stone on the ground, nearly causing him to fall. He quickly grabbed the edge of the coffin to steady himself, his gaze fearfully sweeping between the "newlyweds" in the coffin and the two team members beside him.

Identical!

The male corpse's face was a spitting image of Chen Qing! And the female corpse... was clearly Bai Xue, having traveled through a thousand years, lying there in a wedding dress!

Cold sweat soaked through Chen Renfeng's inner shirt. He could clearly hear his own heartbeat.

He forced himself to look again at the lifelike faces of the "newlyweds" in the coffin.

He remembered the news about the Queen Mother of the West's autopsy, and a wild thought exploded in his mind.

"We need to proceed with the experiment immediately!" Chen Renfeng's voice was low and resolute.

"Uncle Chen!" Bai Xue's eyes widened in astonishment, "You haven't reported to your superiors yet..."

Chen Qing also said urgently, "Professor, this is not in accordance with procedure, the consequences..."

Seeing that things were about to go wrong, Chen Renfeng immediately advised, "Do you know who is lying in the coffin?"

The two shook their heads, both looking at Professor Chen with expectant eyes.

Chen Renfeng walked to the bronze coffin and pointed at the ancient corpse, saying, "They are the Princess of Great Righteousness and Peaceful Nation and the Great General from eleven hundred years ago. As long as we can restore their images from when they were alive, we can unlock the secret of their incorruptibility."

Upon hearing this, Bai Xue questioned, "Uncle Chen, since you discovered the thousand-year-old wet corpses, you should have reported it. We shouldn't be conducting experiments here privately."

Chen Renfeng replied helplessly, "The two wet corpses would be destroyed within minutes of being removed from this environment. Since we've found them, we must quickly produce results and preserve them."

"Also, the ancient corpses look like you..."

In the secret chamber, a deathly silence fell, broken only by the pounding of adventurous hearts.

Ten minutes later, Chen Renfeng had surrounded the bronze coffin with a black curtain and set up a simple operating table. He used ropes and bags to bind the ancient corpse, hoisted it up with a hinge, and placed it on the operating table. More than a dozen surgical lamps were also positioned directly above, illuminating the area as if it were daytime.

Bai Xue took out surgical knives, laser cutting tools, and containers for tissues from a box.

As she made the first cut, blood flowed out. Bai Xue was startled and quickly checked the ancient corpse. Confirming there was no heartbeat or breathing, she finally gritted her teeth and continued the surgery.

An hour later, Bai Xue emerged from behind the curtain carrying two transparent glass containers filled with the ancient corpse's brain tissue. Chen Renfeng followed, but he held a pair of Twin Fish Jade Pendants, tied with a red string, which he had just removed from the corpse's neck.

Chen Qing had also finished setting up the experimental apparatus for extracting the ancient corpse's memories.

The ancient corpse's brain tissue and the Twin Fish Jade Pendants were placed on the apparatus, and the power was connected.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed from the jade pendants.

The electromagnetic field in the secret chamber became abnormal, and the light bulbs flickered on and off. Within seconds, with a bang.

The experimental equipment exploded, and a highly bright ball of light appeared on the spot, which then collapsed into a spacetime vortex.

A tremendous pulling force sucked the archaeological trio towards the vortex.

The three were stunned with fear.

Chen Renfeng was the first to regain his senses. He grabbed the Twin Fish Jade Pendants, then grabbed Chen Qing's wrist. Chen Qing held onto Bai Xue.

The three spun in the vortex's beam of light, dizzy and unable to see or hear.

A powerful force transmitted through them intermittently, sometimes pulling them with immense strength, sometimes crushing them, as if trying to tear them to shreds.

Chen Renfeng's protective suit began to tear and shred. His hand was cut open, and blood flowed from the gap between his fingers into his palm.

Suddenly, the jade pendant in his hand emitted layers of faint light, enveloping them. The tearing force instantly disappeared.

A moment later, the three had vanished from the secret chamber!

Where had the archaeological trio been teleported?