Tomb Raiders Codex

Chapter 11 Open the coffin

The coffin was completely sunk in the mud, and it took me more than half an hour to widen the hole. Tofu also came down at this time, and we, one on the left and one on the right, slowly dug out the soil along the direction of the coffin sinking into the mud.

At this time, you can't use a probe shovel, you have to use a small hand shovel to shovel the soil slowly.The two big men nested in this dark robbery cave, the air was not ventilated, and it was cramped. Needless to say, in the hot weather, it didn't take a while for them to be covered in sweat, gray and disheveled, and extremely uncomfortable.

But we did not disappoint our hard work. In about an hour, the black coffin blocking the front was cleared out.The coffin was right in front of us, and its curvature was a bit oblique.Although Tofu didn't know much about this, he still saw the problem at a glance, and said with a raised head, "No, the coffin has to be placed upright. Why is the coffin buried in the soil at an angle?"

The lid of the coffin is very tight, but there is a piece missing in one corner, which should be the one I accidentally dug through last time.With the light of the flashlight, the entire shape of the black coffin is displayed in front of our eyes.

Judging from the damaged position of the coffin, this is a thick coffin, and it still looks like a 'willow'.The so-called willow does not refer to the coffin made of willow, but the coffin in Liuzhou, Guangxi.Due to its special geographical location, Liuzhou has always produced high-quality wood, and the craftsmanship of coffins is also very good. There has always been a folk saying: "Live in Hangzhou, wear in Suzhou, eat in Guangzhou, and die in Liuzhou."

The willow coffin has its own specifications, and it has not changed for hundreds of years. I remember when I was a child, cremation was not fashionable in the countryside at that time.There is a rich man in our village. When his father died, he used the willow wood he had prepared in the early years.According to the person who carried the coffin, the coffin looked similar to an ordinary coffin, but it was very heavy when lifted, and it smelled like a coffin.

However, due to the inconvenient transportation in the past, if it is not in the local area, if the willow wood can be used in other places, the family situation will not be too bad.

The coffin in front of me is obviously made of willow wood. It seems that the person lying in the coffin must be a wealthy household in this place at that time, but why is the coffin tilted?Could it be that the coffin has already been moved?

At this moment, the coffin was completely exposed, accompanied by a muddy smell, and an unspeakable strange smell, which was not very pleasant.Tofu slapped his nose, holding his breath, and said, "It's fucking stinky, I said Lao Chen, what should we do now? Should we bypass our robbery hole?"

Tofu is relatively timid, so it came up with such a bad idea. When I saw the coffin, I wanted to detour. Although I was a little nauseous by the smell, I couldn't help but have other ideas in my heart.

In recent decades, even if ordinary people are buried, they have lost the custom of being buried with them, so modern graves cannot be dug.But in the period of the Republic of China, wealthier families still had the custom of placing funeral objects. The coffin in front of me, judging from the degree of corruption, must have been at least a hundred years old, and most of the coffins contained funeral objects.

So I said to Tofu: "Forgive me, you forgot what we are here for? We are here to dig mushrooms, so what if we leave when we see a coffin?" Then, I pointed to the coffin in front of me and said : "See, at least it's been more than 100 years. There must be funerary objects inside. No matter how this coffin appeared here, since it has been dug up, let's practice with it."

Tofu had an expression of stepping on stinky dog ​​shit, and his expression was obviously a little scared. He shrank his neck and said with a shy smile, "This is not the first time for me, so I am nervous? As soon as an expert makes a move, he will know if there is any, and the younger brother has not." Experience. How about this, you do it, and I will learn by the side, so that I can help you in the future." After speaking, he shrank his body and slipped aside, motioning for me to do it myself.

I was angry and funny at the same time, thinking that this kid is usually as courageous as a mouse, if I really let him move the coffin to look at the corpse, he might pee his pants in fright, no matter, the coffin is about to lift the lid, I'd better do it myself Bar.

Immediately I put on gloves and a gas mask. This mask was imported from parallel imports. Better gas masks are hard to find in the market. After wearing them, I felt very depressed. Although I couldn’t smell the strange smell anymore, my nose was filled with the smell of plastic.

The coffin lid was almost rotten. Due to the narrow space here, it was impossible to remove the lid, so the coffin lid could only be broken directly.The shovel was made of steel and iron, and it was thrown down with great force. There was a muffled bang, and the front half of the coffin collapsed, and the coffin lid shattered and fell into the coffin, revealing a half-meter-long hole.

It is enough to have this hole, and you can see the funeral objects and corpses inside. I looked at the tofu sideways, and the boy's face turned pale from fright. Amitabha Buddha.

As the saying goes, one is not afraid of enemies like wolves, but teammates like pigs. This kid is soft-hearted and timid, and he is really not suitable for this kind of business.I have been doing business over the years and have made many friends.Those business partners, in order to make money, would do any kind of dirty tricks.

I have known Tofu for many years, but I would never pull him into my former circle of friends. It’s not that I dislike him and easily become counseled, but that in this society, there are very few people who are as pure and innocent as him. Subconsciously, I don't really want to drag him into the water.

Although there is a lot of experience in the work notes left by my grandfather, and I remember it by heart, but this is the first time I have done such a thing of opening someone's coffin.It would be a lie to say that I am not nervous, but it would be good to have him muttering and chanting scriptures next to me, which gave me some confidence, so I picked up the flashlight and moved to the edge of the hole I smashed out.

Because I was wearing a gas mask, I didn't smell any strange smell when I went over. With the dim light of the flashlight, I looked into the coffin and couldn't help being stunned.According to my thinking, the first thing I see should be a bone or a drape.

In the past, when the dead were buried, they were not put directly into the coffin, but also paid attention to wearing clothes.

The name of this thing is different in different places. In short, it is to put something like a quilt in the coffin to wrap the body, just like making a bed for the dead body.So logically speaking, I should see some rotten quilts, but everything in front of me is completely different from what I thought. What I saw was a puddle of black water.

How could there be water in the coffin?
The black water was illuminated by the flashlight, reflecting the faint light, and there seemed to be something vaguely at the bottom of the water.

I couldn't help but move forward, because the place was narrow, so the upper body of the person was pressed against the edge of the coffin.Unexpectedly, the coffin has been so old for a long time, and the inside has been completely corrupted.As soon as I pressed down, I felt bad, I only heard the creaking under my body, and the whole coffin under my chest suddenly broke a large piece.I was caught off guard, and fell down because of this force of inertia. In an instant, my upper body was buried in the black water of the coffin.

Tofu next to him exclaimed in surprise, and said anxiously: "Old Chen, what are you doing? Why did you suddenly pounce on me! Could it be that the dead body inside is still a woman? You can't do such a thing that is inferior to a beast!" Said Come and grab my collar immediately.

I plunged my entire upper body into the black water, only to feel that the water was slippery and cold, as if it had expired and some hydrated jelly, and it felt very disgusting when it touched my skin.

Fortunately, Tofu's reaction was fast enough, and immediately pulled me up. My gas mask was covered with black water, which blocked my vision. My eyes were black and numb, so I had to take off the mask.

After picking it up, I immediately smelled a strong stench, which came from the coffin.

But at this time, because the coffin had a hole, the black liquid inside was flowing out, and the inside of the robbery cave became like a stinky ditch, with an unstoppable stench.As the liquid inside became less and less, I immediately saw a pair of black, straight dead feet in the coffin.

Tofu gasped, swallowed, and said, "Why isn't this corpse rotten?"

The situation in front of me was far beyond my expectation. In the coffin more than 100 years ago, the body has not yet seen the bones?I have seen non-decomposing corpses on TV, but I heard from those experts that it is all related to the geological environment and the structure of the tomb.

As for the corpse in front of me, the coffin was broken, and it was buried in the ground randomly. There is no structure at all, but it has not decayed yet.

I suddenly realized, could it be related to the water in the coffin?It is said that there were many anti-corrosion secrets in ancient times, which could be used to keep the corpses of the dead from decaying, and some of them were soaked in coffins.It's just that these anti-corrosion secret techniques are costly and labor-intensive, and people who have to be very rich can't do it.What is the origin of the owner of the coffin in front of me?Not only did they use willow wood, but there was also antiseptic coffin liquid in the coffin?

But if the owner of the coffin was really wealthy during his lifetime, why would he be buried in such a sloppy manner after death?

I had too little experience, so I didn't know why for a while, but after thinking about the reason why the corpse didn't rot, and seeing the pair of straight legs, I wasn't so scared anymore.So he patted Tofu on the shoulder and motioned him to move a position.I smashed it in the wrong direction just now. Funeral objects are usually placed from top to bottom. I just smashed the end of the foot, and the inside is empty. It seems that I have to smash it again.

The first time was raw, the second time was cooked, the first time I smashed the guts, the second time I was unambiguous, I picked up the shovel and smashed it several times, the entire coffin lid was completely broken, revealing the intact old corpse in the coffin .

I thought it was the coffin of some great landlord, but I was shocked when I saw the corpse inside, because the corpse inside was actually wearing the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty.

Although the ancient corpse is not rotten, it has no moisture and looks very shriveled.The large official uniform was stained by the coffin liquid, and the original color could not be seen, and it was stuck to the corpse wetly.

The emaciated body and the baggy burial clothes formed a strange contrast. I moved my gaze upwards and saw the face of the corpse.Sunken eye sockets, tightly closed mouth, and only a layer of black skin on the face, reflecting a kind of oily light under the light.

(End of this chapter)