Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 67

Tang Yu thought it made sense. Since they were already here, they might as well take something with them. Besides, after exploring the main tomb, their tomb exploration mission would likely yield a greater reward.

She poked her head out to look at the cavern below. Xiao Qi’s flashlight flickered on and off, but the cavern was peaceful. It seemed there were no traps set in the main tomb chamber.

Tang Yu bowed to the two giant snakes coiled together, licking their wounds. Regardless of whether they understood, she made a request, “Please help me look after my companions. We’ll be right back up. Thank you both.”

The two giant snakes ignored her.

However, her words swept away the gloomy atmosphere among the group.

Li Chengjian was the first to slide down Xiao Qi’s climbing rope, followed by Tang Yu and Zhou Zhou, who also jumped into the main tomb.

By this time, Song Lengzhu’s group had already pried open the heavy, black lacquered coffin with colorful paintings. The coffin was covered in depictions of clouds, gods, and monsters, looking both magnificent and bizarre. Li Chengjian reached out and touched it, sighing, “This ascension painting is so exquisite, and the lacquered coffin is undamaged. It’s truly a work of art.”

He was a connoisseur, completely different from someone like Tang Yu who had no eye for such things.

The royal burial method was extremely elaborate. Inside the black lacquered coffin was another layer—a vermilion lacquered coffin with colorful paintings—and finally, the inner coffin that held the body. The vermilion coffin was vibrant, using bright colors like turquoise, pinkish-brown, and yellowish-white. It was lavishly decorated, with carvings of immortal mountains and white cranes, seemingly related to “immortality and ascending to become a celestial being.”

Xiao Qi and the twins were prying open the lid of the inner coffin.

Their goal was very clear; it seemed what they wanted was inside the coffin itself. They didn’t even glance at the many treasures surrounding them.

Tang Yu pulled her head back, moving away from the coffin. She scanned her surroundings. The burial goods were still primarily bronze and jade artifacts, which she had no interest in. However, in the farthest corner of the chamber stood a row of weapons. Tang Yu’s eyes lit up, and she walked straight toward the weapon rack.

Seven bronze swords hung horizontally here, along with iron spears, halberds, and sabers. Unfortunately, these weapons were all covered in rust, and it was uncertain if they were still usable.

Tang Yu picked up a short bronze sword. It was a meter long, and the scabbard was already showing signs of rust. She drew the blade and saw that the bronze-black edge was perfectly preserved, looking almost new.

Tang Yu swung it a couple of times. The sword was light, and its feel was a bit inferior to Startling Dragon, but it was still quite handy. The only issue was that the bronze on the hilt had rusted and corroded, making it uncomfortable to grip.

After a moment’s thought, Tang Yu took down all seven bronze swords.

Unable to carry them all herself, she handed three to Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou held the hilts with a look of disgust, rolling her eyes. She had only come down to watch the excitement but was being used as a porter by Tang Yu.

Fine, she’d be a porter this one time. Just this once.

Compared to their restraint, Li Chengjian was much more direct. He expertly cleared some space in his backpack and selected a few jade artifacts to put inside.

Tang Yu watched his actions with curiosity and asked, “These things can’t be circulated as currency. What’s the use in taking them?”

Li Chengjian replied, “I’m not picking valuable jade, but jade with special properties. Like this cold jade, its texture is very hard and can be used to forge weapons, providing a bonus to attack power.”

Tang Yu keenly caught the key point in his words. “Forging? There are people in this world who can forge weapons?”

“Yes, players like us who often roam Ghost Valley have some contact with blacksmiths. If you need it, I can introduce you.”

“I do, I most certainly do.” A new idea sparked in Tang Yu’s mind, and she was overjoyed.

She was naturally reluctant to part with her Startling Dragon. Although these bronze swords from the tomb were good, their hilts were somewhat damaged due to material and time. In that case, she could melt these swords down and merge them with Startling Dragon to reforge a new one.

Li Chengjian didn’t hesitate. “Alright, I’ll help you get in touch later.”

Tang Yu felt relieved. Recruiting this subordinate was worth it.

While the two were whispering, Zhou Zhou had already walked to the edge of the tomb chamber. She turned her head and called out, “Li Chengjian, come over and identify this. What script is this?”

Tang Yu looked up and only then noticed that the stone walls of the tomb chamber were covered in murals. Unlike the murals in the previous chambers, the paintings here clearly had a narrative purpose. The images were exquisite and detailed, arranged frame by frame like a slideshow, with some frames annotated with a snake-like script.

Instantly, the three of them were captivated by the murals. They stood before the wall, examining it from the beginning. The more they looked, the more horrified they became. The paintings carried a vast and complex amount of information, recording the life of the tomb’s occupant.

Li Chengjian had some knowledge of this script. He pointed to the first passage and read, “The Martial King of Xianqi was born from a cave, without parents or siblings, a heavenly being. At the age of ten, he already understood the heavens and the earth, comparable to a god. At fifteen, he slew the tyrannical old ruler…” The following long passage was a panegyric praising the Martial King as an extraordinary person. It looked like a fabricated, heaven-sent, auspicious origin story for a monarch with an illegitimate claim to the throne.

Tang Yu stared for a long time but couldn’t figure out how he recognized these characters. However, the murals were vividly carved. In a cave, there was a male infant, riding clouds and mist, appearing like a deity.

Further on, the murals recorded the Martial King of Xianqi’s growth, mostly scenes of singing his praises and glorifying his achievements.

However, Tang Yu noticed that this nation frequently held sacrificial and shamanistic rituals, seeming to worship deities to an extreme degree. Enormous scenes were used to depict these magnificent sacrificial ceremonies, taking up an entire wall.

After that, the style of the paintings took a sudden turn, depicting thousands of soldiers in armor and wielding halberds fighting against two large snakes. According to the mural, the large snakes were eventually captured by the Martial King, their fangs removed, and they were imprisoned on an altar. The altar was carved with scriptures, and the surrounding bone pits were filled with venom, identical in design to the altar they had seen above.

Indeed, this so-called Martial King did not worship any snake totem; the snakes were their spoils of war.

But the subsequent storyline became bizarre. Li Chengjian confirmed it for a long time before saying hesitantly, “The text says that the Martial King discovered a snake kingdom in the deep mountains, where the inhabitants lived and worked like humans. The Martial King used the power of the snake king and queen to subjugate the people of the snake kingdom…”

“Henceforth, the snake kingdom would submit to the Martial King’s rule for all eternity. The two races could even… intermarry?! Producing offspring with human bodies and snake heads, born with divine power. The Xianqi kingdom became the sole nation connecting the immortal realm above and the underworld below.”

Zhou Zhou offered a sharp critique, “Were they on drugs?”

The three of them were utterly astonished. However, this passage solved a puzzle for Tang Yu. The mural of the human-bodied, snake-headed figure on the stone gate earlier was clearly this Martial King of Xianqi’s wish, or perhaps fantasy. This king likely saw the intelligent pythons as god-like beings but held no reverence for them. Instead, he wanted to conquer this immensely powerful race, to rule over them and make these snakes his subjects.

The last wall recorded how the Martial King heroically subdued the snake swarms, and how he spent enormous manpower and resources to build the underground palace based on the altar, where he would ascend to immortality after death.

In the mural’s depiction, the snake swarms became willing subjects who guarded the underground palace and accompanied the Martial King on his journey to paradise. But the reality was completely different. In the eyes of the three, these images only further revealed the monarch’s savage arrogance.

The so-called snake king and queen had their collarbones pierced and were imprisoned beneath the altar. The iron chains were coated with snake repellent and suppressed by a formation, forcing them to become the guardians of the tomb chamber.

These snakes were different from other snakes; they had a strong sense of community. After the snake king and queen were imprisoned, their clan remained around the great tomb, breeding and multiplying. Because they preferred shady environments, they often used the tomb caverns as nests. In the eyes of the Xianqi people, they became divine snakes tamed by the Martial King to guard the tomb.

Tang Yu thought of the mother snake from before. “So, was the mother snake we saw earlier the child of the snake king and queen?”

Zhou Zhou said, “Not necessarily. It could be from the same clan.”

“Then why did the mother snake attack us?”

It seemed Zhou Zhou and the others had already found the answer. “While searching for the tomb entrance, we saw the corpse of another python, likely killed by Chen Deming’s group. The other snake was probably enraged and launched an indiscriminate attack on humans.”

After a pause, Zhou Zhou added, “Also, ‘mother snake’ is a misleading term. It didn’t give birth to all those small snakes. Li Chengjian previously translated the records in the cavern; these snakes have a strong reproductive ability. Most snakes remain small, and they mate and reproduce, appearing in swarms. The probability of one of these snakes growing into a giant python is one in a thousand. Therefore, it’s difficult for the giant, chosen snakes to mate. If one finds another large snake, they form a lifelong partnership. The snake swarms have deep emotional bonds. In a way, they are indeed like humans.”

Tang Yu sighed and said no more.

She didn’t feel much guilt about killing the mother snake. At the time, the snake was relentlessly pursuing them; it was either the snake or them. The most detestable one was Chen Deming, who had diverted the disaster onto them, nearly causing them to be devoured by the snake.

While they were engrossed in the murals, Song Lengzhu had already pried open the tightly sealed innermost coffin lid. The coffin let out a creak, and a strange sandalwood fragrance instantly filled the entire chamber. Tang Yu subconsciously held her breath, only realizing after a long moment that the woody scent was not poisonous.

This so-called Martial King of Xianqi probably believed no one could get past the divine snakes’ trap, so the main tomb chamber was not set with any fatal mechanisms.

The strange fragrance quickly dissipated into the air. Tang Yu and the other two curiously approached the coffin and peered inside.

Li Chengjian’s eyes lit up. “A gold-threaded jade suit.” He looked pleased but didn’t make a move, because Song Lengzhu’s group was still standing by, and he couldn’t beat them.

The gold-threaded jade suit Li Chengjian mentioned was very cumbersome. Thousands of jade pieces were strung together with red copper wire, completely encasing the corpse from head to toe, making it look like a jade chrysalis.

Song Lengzhu’s mind was not on the jade suit. She ruthlessly used her dagger to sever the threads of the suit. The jade pieces instantly scattered, revealing the corpse inside.

The Martial King of Xianqi lay on his back, his hands crossed over his abdomen. The body was exceptionally well-preserved, even individual strands of hair were visible, but his facial features had collapsed, a world of difference from a living person.

Li Chengjian couldn’t help but exclaim, “A jade face covering, a jade pillow, and jade plugs for the nine orifices. What a complete system of burial jades.” Those jade artifacts were placed on the corpse’s eyes, nose, mouth, and entire face. Upon closer inspection, there were also some in his hands and ears.

Tang Yu stood a little farther away and couldn’t help but comment, “Isn’t this sealing all the facial orifices?”

Li Chengjian replied, “By sealing the nine orifices, they believed jade could preserve the body from decay and allow it to ascend to paradise.”

Song Lengzhu ignored the two muttering to each other. She used her dagger to pry open the corpse’s hand and, from beneath its palm, pulled out a golden dagger. It was identical to the one she originally had.

Song Lengzhu let out a sigh of relief. “It really was here.”

Tang Yu looked up at Song Lengzhu in surprise. Even Zhou Zhou couldn’t help but gasp and ask, “What… what’s going on?”

Song Lengzhu didn’t hide anything. “These daggers were originally a pair. One was lost to the world, and I found it in a museum ruin six months ago. I heard the other was acquired by a royal family in the west, so I figured it must have been used as a burial good.”

No wonder she, a player who usually operated in the city, had come to this deep mountain forest.

Tang Yu watched with envy as Song Lengzhu pocketed the two daggers. She had witnessed the power of that dagger; although not as hard as Startling Dragon, it was still a high-tier cold weapon.

She wanted it, but she couldn’t be shameless enough to ask for it.

The sight made Tang Yu’s heart itch.

Seeing that Song Lengzhu wasn’t interested in the burial jades, Li Chengjian’s face lit up with joy, and he began to collect the jade artifacts.

He was an old hand at this and didn’t find it unlucky. He went straight to it, prying a jade cicada from the corpse’s mouth. The jade artifact used as a tongue plug was typically the highest quality among all burial jades, which brought a rare smile to the usually serious Li Chengjian’s face.

But as soon as the jade cicada was removed, a foul air spewed from the corpse’s mouth, putrid and nauseating, hitting Li Chengjian right in the face.

Tang Yu retreated three steps. She saw the corpse, as if having inhaled the breath of the living, sit bolt upright.

“It’s reanimated again!” Zhou Zhou cried out in alarm, darting back to Tang Yu’s side. The two of them retreated again and again, putting three meters between them in an instant.

The first to react was Song Lengzhu. She first drove her golden dagger into the corpse’s forehead. The corpse didn’t bleed; instead, the dagger seemed to sink in slightly, as if a powerful suction was pulling at Song Lengzhu. She quickly withdrew the dagger, pulled out her gun, and fired three shots.

The bullets sank into the corpse’s body without any effect.

At this moment, Xiao Qi had already stepped onto the half-opened coffin lid and kicked the corpse in the face, trying to knock it back down. But even such a powerful impact couldn’t make the corpse lie down; instead, the momentum caused the coffin lid to slide another half-inch.

Song Lengzhu’s gaze sharpened. She put away her gun and pulled out the two snake fangs from her waist. She drove one into the corpse’s clasped hands and the other into its mouth.

After the strike, Song Lengzhu released her grip. The poison fangs were sucked in, sinking deeper.

Unexpectedly, this move worked. It was unclear whether it was due to the snake venom or because the corpse’s mouth was once again plugged, but the male corpse lay back down in the coffin.

The others came to their senses and quickly worked together to push the coffin lid back on. Tang Yu, who had run far away just moments before, now rushed over with a small bronze tripod and slammed it onto the coffin lid.

There was no more sound from within the wooden coffin. In the end, they didn’t know if it had truly reanimated or if they had triggered some kind of mechanism.

The two teams had taken two items from the coffin and returned two poison fangs. Zhou Zhou clasped her hands together and bowed. “I guess you could call it an exchange of goods.”

Tang Yu glanced at her. The more she got to know Professor Zhou, the more she realized how unconventional she was.

Seeing the danger was over, the group circled the coffin.

There were many burial goods in the tomb chamber; golden crowns and jade discs were everywhere. But for players, these things were useless. They couldn’t be exchanged for money, nor did they have any value for modifying weapons. They couldn’t possibly take them back to use, could they? How unlucky would that be.

So in the end, Tang Yu and Zhou Zhou carried a few swords, Li Chengjian picked up a pile of jade, Song Lengzhu pocketed her daggers, and Xiao Qi and the twins took four iron sabers. The group then climbed back up the rope to the previous cavern.

The two giant snakes were still coiled in the center of the cavern. After seeing the murals, Tang Yu and Zhou Zhou’s eyes held a hint of sympathy when they looked at the two giant snakes again.

Zhou Zhou moved to the side of the golden-eyed snake and touched the anchor still embedded in its body. One end of the anchor had already grown into its flesh, and combined with the previous fire, the surrounding flesh was charred black.

As if having made up her mind, she patted the snake’s body. “Come with us. I’ll find a way to get that anchor out for you.”