Evil Spirits Carrying A Coffin

Chapter Nine: Moving the Corpse

As Yuan Li continued her story, time slipped by without anyone noticing, and it was soon close to noon. Since she had only reached the middle of her account, and the carriage was decorated so vividly, none of them felt much appetite.

Still, after a brief discussion, they decided to ask the train attendants to bring over four boxed lunches. The group ate together, with Li Yuan generously paying for the meal.

While they ate, Yuan Li went on to recount what happened next. It was precisely because of what followed that all of us later became involved in what we experienced afterward.

At the time, Officer Wang still held a sliver of hope that there might be survivors among those people. However, after carefully examining the bodies, he let out a soft sigh. They had been dead for quite some time.

And worse—there were bite marks all over them. The sight was horrifying.

Perhaps because they had been submerged in the Yellow River for too long, all the bodies were bloated to varying degrees. One of them had been bitten especially badly. Its abdomen had been torn open, entrails spilling out and floating in the muddy river. The scene was like something straight out of hell, so graphic that even the nearby police officers frowned in discomfort.

As for the boatmen, they were even more terrified. Their hands trembled uncontrollably. After all, they rarely encountered dead bodies, let alone so many at once—and in such a dreadful state.

When Officer Wang noticed the expression on one man’s face, a chill instantly ran down his spine. That man wore the same eerie, twisted grin he had seen before—on the dead Yellow River engineer, and on Zhang Feng himself.

It immediately reminded him of the red coffin. Everything seemed to be pointing toward something ominous.

But as a police officer, Wang had seen all kinds of strange deaths. Though this incident was undeniably unsettling, he believed there had to be a rational explanation. He quickly forced himself to calm down.

After some discussion, Officer Wang decided to salvage the bodies first. As for everything else, it would have to be investigated further after they returned. When preparations began, several boat captains refused outright, even under threat. In their eyes, carrying corpses onto their boats was an extremely bad omen.

People who made their living on the river were deeply superstitious. They believed that death clung to such things, and they wanted nothing to do with it.

There was no other choice. Officer Wang promised one hundred yuan for each body transported. Even so, only two or three people were willing to agree. There were five bodies in total—but that would have to be enough.

One of those willing was an idle drifter from a nearby Yellow River village. He was nearly middle-aged, named Huang Degui. Unfortunately, despite the name, he had gained neither wealth nor status.

He was over forty and still unmarried, spending his days wandering aimlessly around the village. If not for the boat passed down from his ancestors, he might not even have been able to scrape by.

When he heard there was money to be made, Huang Degui agreed immediately. Though he had been detained by the police before, he still hesitated for only a moment. Once money was involved, he became unusually energetic, casting his fishing net toward the floating body.

As he slowly hauled it onto the boat, the ferocious appearance startled him. But thinking of the money, he steeled himself and carefully placed the corpse on his vessel.

Using the same method, he hauled up another. As he was pulling it aboard, something suddenly clanged loudly against the back of the boat. When he picked it up, he saw that it was an object covered in a thick layer of greenish patina.

Not recognizing what it was, he casually tossed it toward the stern of his boat.

When Officer Wang said it was time to head back, Huang Degui set off with the others toward the shore.

After all the bodies had been transported, Officer Wang took five hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it over. Huang Degui alone received two hundred. He was delighted—given his lazy habits, he usually ate only one meal a day. With this money, he could finally have a decent meal.

Just then, Professor Sun approached with something in his hand, accompanied by Huang Shan. At first, Huang Degui paid little attention to it, but after a few more glances, he felt something was odd.

The item Professor Sun was holding looked remarkably similar to what he had just picked up. Both were covered in verdigris, though there were subtle differences.

Seeing this, Yuan Li and Li Xin were so frightened that they covered their eyes, unable to keep watching. The rest of the archaeological team remained far calmer—such scenes were, unfortunately, not unfamiliar to them.

As for me, the gore made my heart pound and my face pale, but I managed to keep myself together.

“Professor Sun, I’ll take these back for testing,” Officer Wang said. “If nothing unusual turns up, we’ll be heading out.”

The rain was still pouring, and everyone was soaked through. Officer Wang was eager to leave as well. Anything that remained in water too long would quickly deteriorate. They needed to return as soon as possible and extract whatever useful clues they could.

Hearing this, Professor Sun hesitated for a moment. He knew it wasn’t appropriate to say much more after a homicide, but he was genuinely worried about the ancient tomb. The disappearance of those people had been far too strange.

“Um… I just wanted to ask,” Professor Sun said carefully. “During the salvage operation, did you notice anything unusual? Anything similar to this?”

As he spoke, he handed the object he was holding to Officer Wang for everyone to examine.

“With rain that heavy, I didn’t notice anything,” Officer Wang replied.

Most people shook their heads. In such torrential rain, no one had the presence of mind to pay attention to details like that. Even if something seemed odd, it would easily be dismissed amid the chaos of the Yellow River.

Huang Degui, however, felt a flicker of suspicion when he saw the object. Was there really something special about it? Acting cautiously, he chose not to mention the similar item on his own boat.

“Professor Sun, what exactly is this?” Officer Wang asked, studying it with some curiosity. If one wasn’t careful, it could easily be mistaken for a piece of scrap.

“It’s a bronze object,” Professor Sun replied. “The upper part was washed ashore from the Yellow River. I just happened to pick it up.”

Hearing this, Huang Degui was secretly pleased. He cast a glance toward his boat, where the copper-rusted object lay quietly at the stern.