Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

Chapter 574: Exhuming the Grave and Opening the Coffin

"Slow down."

"Strange, why is the coffin like this?"

Brother Yu stopped what he was doing immediately and asked me in confusion.

I looked at the coffin emerging from the soil, feeling equally puzzled.

Regarding burying coffins, customs and habits vary from place to place. Some places will have the big end facing forward, while others will have the small end facing forward, but in the end, it must be stable, and people may even use skirting boards or spirit levels to ensure that the coffin is not tilted.

But in front of me...Old Master Xia’s coffin is not like this.

The coffin is tilted at a large angle. I was there on the day of the burial, and I don't remember it being like this. Could it have been changed later?

"Yunfeng, what do you think? Does this represent a certain statement?" Brother Yu looked a little nervous.

I glanced around and shook my head. "If it were a sloping plot of land near a mountain or a river, with a slanted hillside, then placing the coffin at an angle would better absorb the vital energy. This place doesn't meet the requirements."

"Looking at the five elements of the deceased's birth chart, if their fate favors the East, Wood, then the coffin can be tilted slightly to the east, but the angle won't be that great. Ten degrees is a big no-no."

"Also, it's important to adapt to local conditions. If the burial is in an area with little soil and many rocks, placing it at an angle will be more stable and will also prevent strange rocks and bad winds from rushing into the burial hall."

I only know that people can be buried diagonally in three situations, and none of these three conditions are met right now.

"You smell it, don't you, Brother Yu?"

Brother Yu nodded.

I took a deep breath towards the coffin and said, "It's the third stage of corpse odor. The worst-case scenario I anticipated hasn't occurred, and it hasn't turned to bones yet."

“The stench of corpses is divided into different stages?”

I nodded. "I summarized it myself. How should I put it? The first stage smells like rotten apples. The second stage smells like pork mixed with farts, the kind you get from eating a lot of eggs. The third stage is like this, like pouring half a bottle of cheap perfume on rotting meat."

"Let's see what the hell is going on and dig it out."

Brother Yu and I spat on our hands and continued digging.

After digging about another 1.5 meters, the main part was exposed.

After wiping it with our hands, we could see that the big Chinese character "Shou" on the coffin was still shiny. We hadn't moved the bottom layer of soil, so at this moment, the coffin looked like a chopstick stuck diagonally in the soil.

I held up the flashlight and looked around the coffin.

It is now the second half of the night. The terrain here is high and there is occasional wind, which makes people's backs feel cold.

We prepared crowbars before we came. Brother Yu took one for himself and handed one to me. Not many people use nails to drive coffins nowadays, and many custom-made coffins come with locks.

Whether there are four coffin nails, seven coffin nails, or even more, if one of them won't hold, the situation is the same.

First find the coffin nail that is not nailed shut, and use two crowbars to reach in at the same time, one on the left and one on the right, to pry it open. After the gap is expanded a little, quickly pull out a crowbar, and stick it in the middle along the gap, then lift it up with force. It can be opened 100%, and there will be no obvious signs of damage overall.

The cooperation was very skillful. After everything was done, Brother Yu stared at me and asked, "Are you ready? Open it?"

"open."

The coffin lid creaked open.

Instantly, a foul odor several times stronger than before hit me in the face, making me dizzy.

We both looked towards the coffin at the same time.

The corpse in the coffin was dressed in a purple satin shroud, with the antiseptic in its belly inflated, holding up the clothes. The corpse lay quietly in the coffin, its entire face covered in juice, unrecognizable, and a layer of small white maggots covered its face like a veil.

Judging from the corpse's height, hair length and facial features, it is undoubtedly Old Master Xia.

Brother Yu covered his nose and said, "How come it's still leaking water after more than two months?"

"What is this?"

"Toad? Yunfeng, there really is a toad in the coffin! Is this what you call the golden cicada jumping out of the coffin?"

Brother Yu saw a dead toad at the crotch of the corpse. It was so dry that only the skin was left. I reached out to pick it up, but unexpectedly discovered a strange scene.

I saw that the dead toad's legs were tied with a red rope, and the other end of the red rope was tied to a "candle".

Brother Yu also saw it and asked in surprise, "Is this a candle?"

“It doesn’t seem like…”

I touched it. It was brown-red in color, hard and astringent, without a wick. One end was thicker and the other was narrower. So I temporarily regarded it as a candle. Judging from its position in the coffin, it was probably held in the hands of the corpse. In other words, it was a candle tied with a red rope, and the red rope was tied to the toad's leg.

This was by design, I thought about it in my head.

After the burial, the coffin became increasingly stuffy, and the toad instinctively wanted to jump out, but its legs were tied. Every time the toad jumped, it would cause this thing to hit the bottom of the coffin, so it looked like... Old Master Xia was holding this candle-like thing in his hand, knocking on the coffin again and again.

I shudder when I think of this scene.

It's not that I'm afraid, I just feel it's abnormal and weird.

After all, the person is dead. Who can do such a thing? From previous contact, Xia Shuishui's father is very afraid of his own grandfather. How dare he do that?

This must be some kind of unconventional Feng Shui technique. I don't know what this candle-like thing is exactly. I think Uncle Cha knows. I'll ask him when I get a chance.

"Yunfeng, the person is like this now, I can't see anything at all, it stinks too much, I feel like I won't feel like eating for three days, why don't I just go back and fill it up."

"Brother Yu, we are from the Northern School, we are professionals, how can we be afraid of stench?"

"vomit!"

"Don't spit on me."

The smell of a corpse will leave a deep impression on everyone, let alone this severe corpse odor. I couldn't help it and vomited for half a minute. Then I forced myself to raise the flashlight and continue watching.

The corpse was wearing a pair of cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, and the sides of the shoe were decorated with gold thread. I looked up inch by inch from a close distance.

Just as I was concentrating, suddenly, the corpse's head turned around by itself!

On that highly decayed face, two eye sockets like black holes appeared, covered with maggots, staring straight at me.

This sudden scene scared me so much that I dropped my flashlight.

No one moved! How did the body turn its head around?

Could it be that Old Master Xia is angry?

If I were the one lying in the coffin, I wouldn't be happy either. I quickly picked up the flashlight, took a deep breath, and told myself not to panic.

I didn't care about the nausea and pushed the corpse with my hands, trying to straighten its head.

But what was unexpected was that as soon as I loosened my hand, the corpse's head turned around and stared at me again.

My forehead started sweating, and Brother Yu was also scared.

"Yun...Yunfeng."

I was very nervous and gasped, "This is already past the rigor mortis stage. How could this happen? Could it be..."

"Brother Yu, please lift the person up."

"Where to carry?"

"Lift your upper body!"

"They're all maggots. Where can I catch them?"

"What's wrong with maggots? You can eat this stuff! If all else fails, you can use a crowbar!"

Brother Yu gritted his teeth, grabbed Old Man Xia's shoulders and pulled him up.

I reached out and touched it, and was shocked.

"Alright, Brother Yu, put it down."

Brother Yu quickly put it down and shook his hands.

"What did you see?"

I whispered, "Xia Shuishui's father lied. Old Master Xia didn't die of a heart attack."

"What did he die of?"

I pointed at my neck and frowned, "The cervical vertebrae in my neck are completely broken, as if someone twisted it off in an instant."