Finally Out of the Tomb

Hu Bayi and the others searched around. Just then, the Fatty called out to them...

"Old Hu, Mingzi, Yingzi, come take a look. There's another iron door here."

Hu Ming and the others headed toward the Fatty. When they arrived, he pointed at the Japanese writing on the door and said, "Old Hu, look. It says 'standing people prohibited.' What the heck does that mean? Don't tell me only people lying down can go in?"

Hu Ming couldn't help rubbing his forehead at that. Seeing the Fatty's expression, Hu Bayi said irritably, "You damn idiot. It doesn't say 'standing people prohibited.' Looks like it means 'no entry!'"

But the next moment, Hu Bayi looked surprised.

He asked the Fatty, "You damn idiot, where are those two brats?"

Only then did the Fatty remember that the two brats had run inside when they first got here. He didn't hide what had happened and immediately explained.

Listening to the Fatty, Old Hu and Hu Ming exchanged a glance. Then Hu Ming said, "If I'm not mistaken, the bodies of those two little ancestors should be in there."

Hu Bayi nodded, then went up and knocked on the iron door a few times. It felt incredibly heavy.

"A mechanical door?" Hu Bayi was familiar with mechanical doors. He'd studied them back when he was stationed at a military stronghold.

Hu Bayi set to work on it.

Then he told Yingzi to hurry and take out the gas masks they'd collected earlier so everyone could put them on, in case the room contained chemical weapons.

After some fiddling, the iron door finally opened.

"Hiss!"

"Hiss..."

They were all stunned. Coffins filled the space before them.

"Well, would you look at that. It's all coffins!" the Fatty said.

Hu Bayi had assumed there wouldn't be many coffins or bodies here, even if it was a storage place for ancient remains. He hadn't expected the coffins to be stacked up and fill the entire room.

But one thing made Hu Bayi especially furious: nearly all the coffins had already been opened, and the bones inside had long since been scattered across the floor.

The Fatty took one look and felt his heart ache. He hurriedly checked several coffins and found them all empty.

He cursed in frustration. "Old Hu, those damn Japanese devils looted everything wherever they went. They really did that scorched-earth policy, huh?"

The three alls were killing, burning, and looting.

The Fatty had thought they might have left something behind, but now it looked like he could forget about it.

Hu Ming wasn't surprised. Wasn't that typical of the Japanese devils?

But as he passed an open coffin, he noticed a rolled-up object in one corner. He brushed away the bones and dust on top, took it out, and unrolled it. It was a painting, and the signature and seal on it belonged to Yan Liben.

Hu Ming quickly put it away. He took one or two porcelain pieces from his system space and put them in his bag, then slipped the painting into the system space.

By then, Hu Bayi and the others had reached the largest coffin and were calling Hu Ming over.

Hu Ming walked over. Since he'd been facing away from them just now, they hadn't seen what he was doing.

When he arrived, Hu Ming said, "What are we waiting for? Open it. Almost all the coffins here have already been searched, so there shouldn't be any big Zombies."

Hu Bayi nodded and worked with the Fatty to move the coffin lid.

As they lifted it away, Yingzi, driven by curiosity, peeked through the gap. That was a mistake. Her face suddenly went deathly pale, and she let out a piercing scream.

The sudden shriek nearly made the Fatty's legs give out. Hu Bayi, standing outside, hurriedly asked, "Yingzi, what are you screaming for?"

Hu Ming covered his ears and looked at Yingzi too. "What happened?"

Yingzi squeezed her eyes shut and pointed into the coffin.

Seeing her reaction, the Fatty followed her pointing finger and went over to where Yingzi stood. He looked through the gap.

"Hiss!" The Fatty sucked in a sharp breath. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead. The two little brats' pale eyes were staring straight at him.

Their bodies were covered in purplish-blue patches, similar to the ones that had just appeared on the Fatty's neck.

Hu Ming noticed them too, but calmly lit a cigarette.

He glanced at the Fatty and said, "These are the bodies of those two little ancestors."

The Fatty reached out to touch them, but Hu Bayi grabbed his arm.

Hu Bayi scolded him, "You damn idiot, where are your gloves? You're touching them without gloves? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

The Fatty sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I took them off when I was handling my gun. I'll put them back on now."

With that, he took his gloves out of his pocket and put them on.

Hu Bayi let it go. But after seeing the two bodies, he lit a cigarette too and said to the Fatty, "Don't forget what Mingzi said about mercury being poured into corpses. Those two brats are covered in poison!"

Hu Bayi's words immediately made the Fatty understand.

When he got up and took a closer look, his heart pounded. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

There were little holes in several places on the two brats—their heads, backs, soles of their feet, and elsewhere...

"Hiss!"

Seeing that the Fatty understood, Hu Bayi turned to Yingzi, who was still in shock, and continued, "Mingzi, let's take them with us."

Hu Ming gave a quiet nod, then found some torn silk cloth and wrapped the two bodies. Hu Bayi and Hu Ming each carried one.

Once Hu Bayi had his body secured, he said to the others, "We've gotten about all we can from this trip. Let's go back the way we came."

Hu Ming nodded, and the Fatty and Yingzi had no objections.

And so, they headed back toward the tomb chamber along the path they'd come.

They reached the huge hole the big Zombie had smashed open. The Fatty was about to climb in first when a hand suddenly slapped him against the opposite wall.

"Roar..."

Hu Ming said, "It's a Zombie."

Hu Bayi immediately pulled the Fatty back. The big Zombie smashed through the tomb wall and entered the passage, glaring at Hu Ming and the others.

Hu Ming remained calm and asked the Fatty, "Are you all right?"

The Fatty looked like he was about to cry. "I'm fine. It's just that all the porcelain in my bag is smashed."

Hu Bayi watched the big Zombie closing in and snapped, "You're still thinking about porcelain? We're about to lose our lives!"

Hu Ming turned to Hu Bayi and the others. "Throw the Molotov cocktails I gave you at it."

As he spoke, Hu Ming pulled five or six Molotov cocktails from his bag and hurled them at the big Zombie. Hearing him, the Fatty and the others took out the Molotov cocktails Hu Ming had given them and threw them too.

Seeing the big Zombie getting closer and closer, Hu Ming said, "Fatty, Old Hu, Yingzi, let's go. There's a corpse-binding rope around the big Zombie's feet, so it can't run fast."

Hu Bayi and the others nodded and ran toward the stronghold. Hu Ming fired at the big Zombie, setting its whole body ablaze. The corpse-binding rope burned away too.

Hu Ming saw that without the rope around its feet, the big Zombie was moving extremely fast.

With no other choice, Hu Ming took more than a dozen grenades from his system space and blew up the passage. The group retreated to the stronghold.

Hu Bayi saw that the passage had been blown up and asked Hu Ming, "Mingzi, the passage is gone. How are we supposed to get out now?"

Hu Ming replied, "Don't worry. There's another passage. I'll take you there in a bit. Rest first. I'm going to grab a few things."

After saying that, Hu Ming went to the weapons depot again and took about twenty grenades, putting them in his system space.

When he came back, he found the Fatty sitting there with a pile of fragments in his hands, staring blankly.

Hu Ming didn't bother comforting him. Instead, he said directly to Hu Bayi and the others, "Follow me. I'll take you to another passage."

Hu Bayi nodded, then kicked the Fatty and said, "You damn idiot, get up. Look at that miserable face. You still have one intact piece of porcelain, don't you? Come on, let's go." Hu Bayi then headed toward Hu Ming.

The Fatty had no choice. He muttered a few words and followed Hu Ming and the others.

They returned to the bat battlefield. Hu Ming led them straight to the passage with the circular opening he'd found.

Hu Bayi shone his flashlight around above them and confirmed that it was a passage. Then he said to the Fatty, "Fatty, hurry over to the tool room and get that stepladder."

The Fatty reluctantly went to get it and brought it back.

Hu Bayi shot the protective mesh at the opening. Hu Ming climbed up the stepladder first, followed by Hu Bayi and the others. It took them more than twenty minutes to climb out, and the opening was covered with wire mesh and wooden boards. They struggled for a while before finally getting out.

They had emerged beside the Japanese devils' greenhouse.

Hu Ming said, "Fatty, I've got two grenades here. Take Yingzi and throw one into the hole we dug today, and one into the side passage Yingzi fell into." The Fatty nodded and left with Yingzi.