Chapter 176
Chapter 176
Unlike Li Yang, Gu Yue didn’t overthink it. She walked straight up to the coffin and gave it a hard shove.
Seven nails dropped into the water, revealing a Female Corpse.
The body had remained perfectly preserved despite the passage of time. Aside from her deathly pale complexion, she looked no different from a living person.
Sure enough, Zhang Bei had placed the mechanism inside the coffin.
And it was right in the Female Corpse’s hand!
Gu Yue reached into the coffin with a trembling hand. Before her fingers could even touch it, the Female Corpse’s eyes snapped open.
Even after all the horrors she’d endured, Gu Yue still hadn’t gotten used to scenes like this.
At that moment, the mechanism was the last thing on her mind.
Her legs kicked frantically, and in the blink of an eye, she had darted off to the side.
Li Yang stood nearby and watched as the Female Corpse climbed out and chased after Gu Yue.
Huh?
She can’t see me?
The Female Corpse completely ignored Li Yang, pursuing Gu Yue in circles around the small burial chamber.
Gu Yue was on the verge of a breakdown.
There’s a big, living person right over there! Are you blind?
Why do you have to chase me?
Do you have some kind of sick fetish or something?!
As the employee who had been with Zhang Bei the longest, Li Yang had long since developed a profound understanding of the joy of helping others.
He found a comfortable spot, floated lazily in the water, and watched the chase unfold before him.
When Gu Yue glanced back and saw Li Yang lounging there, her eyes widened.
What the hell is wrong with you?!
Shouldn’t you be activating the mechanism right now?
Why are you sitting there enjoying the show?!
If they hadn’t been underwater, Li Yang would definitely have burst out laughing.
This was a live performance of “Zombie Out for Blood”!
After circling the burial chamber more than ten times, Gu Yue was gulping down oxygen.
Swimming at full speed was exhausting enough on its own.
But she didn’t dare stop!
Unfortunately, Li Yang’s fun didn’t last long. Seeing him gloating from the sidelines, Gu Yue simply led the Female Corpse straight toward him.
“Glub, glub!”
Li Yang blew two bubbles and pointed toward the coffin nearby.
(I’ll go activate the mechanism right now!)
Gu Yue glared at him as if she wanted to eat him alive.
(Then hurry up!)
Li Yang quickly swam over to the coffin and pulled the lever with one hand.
The stone door rumbled, revealing a long, narrow passage.
The moment Gu Yue saw an escape route, she darted into the passage.
Having lost her target, the Female Corpse fixed her gaze on Li Yang instead.
Li Yang: “!!!”
What kind of ridiculous target switching is this?!
There’s a huge passage right there! Go after her!
Fuck! Why are you coming at me instead?!
Karma always came full circle.
Gu Yue hadn’t gone far before she turned around and saw Li Yang swimming for his life.
Her eyes curved into delighted crescents.
Determined to let Li Yang experience her suffering for himself, Gu Yue grabbed a rack beside her and used it to block the passage entrance.
Li Yang nearly forgot to breathe.
What the fuck?!
Was that really necessary?
All I did was make you swim around for a little while!
Are you seriously trying to get me killed?!
Unable to communicate underwater, Li Yang could only lead the Female Corpse around in circles.
Fuck you! Stop chasing me!
Keep chasing me and I’ll turn around, you hear me?!
Fuck, I seriously can’t swim anymore! Why the hell are you still chasing me?!
After watching for a while, Gu Yue decided to let Li Yang off for the time being and moved the rack away from the passage entrance.
After all, she still needed his help tonight.
Li Yang shot into the passage, then immediately went limp and floated in the water, sucking in great lungfuls of oxygen.
Gu Yue swam onward with a bright smile on her face.
The passage wasn’t long, and the two of them soon reached the next burial chamber.
Gu Yue carefully examined the chamber. If she was right, this was where the burial goods had been stored.
Gold, silver, and jewels covered the floor, while chests of all shapes and sizes lay scattered in the water.
Li Yang picked up a gold brick, his eyes widening.
Even so, their attention was drawn to the very center of the burial chamber.
This time, there was no coffin. Instead, they found something resembling a ritual formation.
The formation had been carved into the floor. It looked like the Big Dipper, except its bottommost star was missing.
A ceramic urn stood at the position of each remaining star.
Li Yang swam around the burial chamber. This time, the setup was even more straightforward-there wasn’t even a stone door.
The clue to the mechanism was practically spelled out for them: they had to complete the formation in the center.
After studying it for a moment, Gu Yue swam off to one side and began searching through the chests.
Li Yang blew two bubbles and followed her.
The first chest opened to reveal exquisite porcelain.
Useless.
The second chest contained a bracelet strung with white beads.
That might be useful. They would take it for now.
They opened the chests one after another, but most contained nothing except useless porcelain.
Only a few items seemed potentially useful: the bracelet of unknown purpose, an ominous-looking iron box covered in talismans, and finally, the ceramic urn required by the mechanism.
Gu Yue thought for a moment, then gathered up the other items and handed the urn to Li Yang.
Her meaning was obvious: You do it.
Li Yang hesitated, but he still accepted the urn and swam to the formation at the center.
The moment he placed the urn in the empty position, a noise came from overhead.
A massive stone coffin was slowly lowered from a pitch-black opening by iron chains.
The resulting current forced Li Yang to retreat some distance.
He looked around. The exit mechanism still hadn’t been triggered, which meant the next puzzle was clearly related to this stone coffin.
Gu Yue narrowed her eyes at the carvings on its surface.
Three more pictures!
The first depicted the Asura from before descending into the mortal world and slaughtering living beings.
The second showed a young man living deep in the mountains being invited to leave his seclusion.
The third showed the young man being invited into the imperial palace to confer with the assembled ministers.
Li Yang patted Gu Yue and pointed at the coffin.
Gu Yue nodded, and the two of them pushed the stone lid aside together.
The coffin was completely empty. There was nothing inside except a human-shaped recess.
Frowning, Li Yang circled the chamber again. They had already unlocked nearly every mechanism in the place, yet there was still no sign of an exit.
That left only one thing.
Gu Yue had reached the same conclusion. She grabbed the ring on top of the iron box and slowly opened the lid.
The box wasn’t large-just small enough to hold in both hands.
But the sight of what lay inside silenced them both.
Gu Yue immediately flung the box away and rubbed her arms.
Two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a Human Skin that had been peeled off perfectly intact.
The sight of those neatly excised pieces drained all the color from Li Yang’s face.
By now, the method of activating the mechanism was staring them right in the face.
They had to place the items from the iron box into the human-shaped recess in the correct order.
Their eyes met. Neither of them wanted to touch those ghastly things.
Suddenly, the searchlights on their heads flickered twice, and the chamber grew noticeably dimmer.
Suppressing his terror, Li Yang picked up the Human Skin with trembling hands and laid it inside the recess.
Gu Yue knew they were running out of time. Given their boss’s uncanny tendency to always be missing something from his Five Elements, there was no telling what might happen once their light source failed.