A girl, quite a pretty girl, mysteriously appeared in the stone coffin of the underground river. She was inexplicably saved by us, and this series of coincidences made me feel baffled. Fatty, standing beside me, had a dumbfounded look and said, "I was scared to death too."
The girl was crying, and she didn't look like a weird creature in her outfit. The way she wore jeans and a white shirt was fashionable back in the day, just like many girls in the city. Could she be someone from the city?
"Miss, Miss..."
Fatty shouted, but the girl kept crying, seemingly really scared. I had mentioned before that Fatty is quite fond of innocent girls, and this girl clearly fell into his preference, so without any hesitation, he softened when he saw her crying. He took a few steps forward and stood in front of the girl.
"Watch out, Fatty."
I held a triangular spike behind him, being cautious. In our line of work, encountering strange things was not unusual, and this girl in front of us might still be an unknown entity.
"Miss, hey, stop crying. We are not bad people."
Fatty tried to pat the girl's shoulder, but she ended up falling into his arms and sobbing while clutching onto Fatty's clothes. Looking at Fatty's face, the pleasure he felt was like soaking in a hot bath in winter, thoroughly satisfied.
"Who are you, who are you?"
The girl cried for a good five minutes, and finally stopped. She blinked and looked at us with her eyes red from crying, sobbing, "I... I'm a teacher at the elementary school next door. Last night, I was visiting a student's home. On my way back, I was grabbed by a monster, knocked out, and woke up inside this coffin. When I came to, I couldn't get out. I'm so scared, can you take me out?"
As she spoke, the girl started crying again. Fatty and I exchanged a glance, then shook our heads. Fatty asked, "What's your name?"
"I'm Shen Mentian, from Shanghai. Can you... can you take me out?"
"Miss, stop crying first. We are trapped in here too, but we are not bad people. Let's figure out a way to get out together. By the way, do you remember what kind of monster grabbed you?"
I tried to ask some questions to clarify things; I still couldn't completely trust this girl.
"I only remember that it was very dark at the time, I was waiting for the bus, feeling like something was staring at me from behind. I was scared, but didn't dare to leave, so I hid under the streetlight. After a while, I heard chattering behind me, and when I turned back, I saw a white shadow rushing out and knocking me out!"
Wiping her tears, she said, "A white shadow." I noticed this descriptor. Was she grabbed by the white-faced monster? The white-faced monster had been stalking me before. Could it be that it was also trying to grab me and bring me in at the time?
Things seemed to add up. I pursed my lips and turned to look at the earthen wall; there was still no sign of it opening. Did something happen to Pearl and the others?
"I'll take a look at the stone coffin. You stay here and comfort the girl."
I'm not good at dealing with girls, so I assigned this important task to Fatty and walked over to the stone coffin. The coffin was relatively large, about two meters long, with a hexagonal base underneath. Its shape was like six petals extending outward, similar to a flower. At the same time, the coffin was carved with intricate patterns that looked like writing, but upon closer inspection, they seemed to be drawings.
"The carvings are quite exquisite."
I furrowed my brows and couldn't tell what era this stone coffin was made in. Then I leaned in to look inside the coffin, where a layer of white cloth was laid, without a pillow. There were also a large number of characters written on the inside walls of the coffin, which looked like oracle bone inscriptions, simple and dense.
I tried to stick my hand into the coffin and felt around, then sighed and said, "There's nothing inside!"
The fat man brought Shen Mentian over at this moment, the girl had stopped crying, but still looked a bit shaken.
"Comrade Shen is very strong, just like the great heroine in my heart, Liu Hulan. Let me introduce, this is my good buddy, Ba Xiaoshan."
The fat man made a few introductions, and Shen Mentian nodded at me.
"When you were locked up, did you hear or feel anything? Also, was there a white-faced monster in the coffin before?"
Just about ten minutes ago, the white-faced monster had just walked out of the coffin, so logically speaking, they should have been lying together.
"Well... there is a hidden passage in the coffin."
Shen Mantian pointed to the coffin and said.
"A hidden passage!"
The fat man and I exclaimed at the same time, hurried over to the side of the coffin, and Shen Mentian pointed to the back half of the coffin and said, "Right there, there's a sunken area, that white monster crawled out from inside. He even drooled at me, like he wanted to eat me."
Why did the white-faced monster grab her? Or why did it grab me before? The reasons for this are still unclear, but since there is a hidden passage, if it can be opened, perhaps a new area in the underground river can be discovered.
The fat man and I hurriedly searched inside the coffin, and sure enough, our fingers could reach a sunken area, a square, about the right size for an adult to crawl out.
I felt around on the coffin wall, but didn't find any mechanism to open this hidden passage.
"Is it one way?"
I muttered to myself, but Shen Mentian next to me stared at us and after looking for a while, said, "Are you workers? But you don’t look like it, no tools, and not wearing work clothes, who are you? "
The fat man's lie was funny enough, it was easily exposed by others with a single sentence. I shook my head awkwardly, but the fat man laughed and said, "I'm sorry, I lied to you! We are not workers fixing the sewers, we are here to find the ancestral tomb!"
Initially, I thought this guy was going to come clean, but after the first lie was exposed, he followed it up with a new one.
"Find the ancestral tomb?"
Shen Mentian looked at the fat man with suspicion.
"Yes." The fat man lit a cigarette, with a feeling of experience and said, "My family's ancestral tomb used to be nearby, the elders in the family had a dying wish to find the tomb and bring the ancestors' bones back home. Unexpectedly, after coming here, a temple was built here. We stumbled upon this place by accident, just to fulfill our filial duty!"
My goodness! This fat man really is a good bullshitter, I just can't compete, I can only bow my head and keep quiet.
"Really?"
Shen Mentian asked with uncertainty.
"Really, right, Xiaoshan! My brother has also been dragged here to help me out."
The fat guy tugged on my arm, and I could only nod in response.
"Alright, I'll have to trust you guys. Can you please escort me out now? There are monsters inside, so let's hurry and call the police to handle this."
That's the normal line of thinking, but as soon as the fat guy heard this, he immediately objected, shouting, "No, no..."
As he spoke, he began to back away, but accidentally stepped on one of the petal-shaped stones, causing it to slowly sink and emit the sound of gears turning. Then, the stone slab inside the coffin slowly opened. This guy inadvertently opened the door to the underground passage!
"Great job!"
I couldn't help but exclaim, and the fat guy awkwardly smiled.
The door to the dark passage was pitch black, but it looked like a staircase. Holding a flashlight and a triangular spike, I pondered for a moment before saying, "Fat guy, you stay outside and guard. I'll go down first and take a look..."
Unable to contain my curiosity, I took the first step into the underground passage. The passage wasn't long, and after about forty steps, I reached the ground. Then, as I shone the flashlight, my eyes widened in disbelief! In the illuminated area, there were numerous skeletons, each maintaining a human form, suspended in the air or lying on the ground. A chilling wind blew, and I was astonished Was this a forest of bones?