Editors: Alysia & Kat
Proofreader: Yuzu EIxn84
When Miao Fangfei repeated it for the second time, the other tourists also responded. They all knelt and talked all at once, "Elder, we are here to send you home!"
"Your esteemed selves, please rest in peace. We will send your esteemed selves home."
Chrysanthemum Garden.
Zhao Hongtu was still hesitating as he grasped onto his bow. Hou Feihu pressed on his shoulder hard, gritted his teeth, knelt, and kowtowed. The sky darkened abruptly as if a black blanket had been draped over it. The cloud of resentment hung over their heads. The chilling coldness was like a blade akin to a soldier's sword. It made everyone's hair stand upright. It forced them to guard against any instinctive resistance they had against these chilling sensations. Their bodies bent lower, and they were so close that their heads almost touched the ground.
Whizz, whizz—— t YyCd
The sound of the dreary wind lingered in everyone's ears as the chilling wind swept through the hall. It sounded like a trumpet on the battlefield, and it also seemed as though the spirits of these martyrs did not depart!
Bang, bang——
The slow banging sound came from the main chamber, as if something was imprisoned in the coffin, as they hammered on it, scraping the coffin's boards.
They hated, they hated that they died and were unable to continue to kill their enemies and protect their territory.
2xTAn6
They were raging. They were in rage because even though they served their country, their bodies were trapped here, unable to return to their home.
They were angry. They were angry because some people did not know good from bad and dared to come to disturb their peace!
Resentment, rage, anger. Under the tourists' calling out of "home", these feelings became denser and thicker, and the whole main room seemed to be overwhelmed with these feelings. Even the bricks and tiles were shaking.
Home, home! vwZDja
All the martyrs were ensnared by the floods of resentment and compelled to experience their reluctance and fury. It was as though their spirits had left their bodies and returned to the battlefield a century ago. They were all unable to free themselves. Only Wei Xun, who was closest to the main chamber, remained unscathed and uninvolved.
He could also sense the resentment. Strangely, Wei Xun seemed to have a pair of eyes that could see through objects. He could 'see' through the door of the wooden house that the scarlet resentment was rising from the coffin, hovering in the room and attaching itself to every tourist.
The souls bearing grudges in the coffins heard the promise of the tourists. Since they promised, they must fulfill it!
Otherwise, they would face a cruel retaliation! thG86a
There were also scarlet resentments floating towards Wei Xun, but they suddenly dissipated when they were about to touch him.
[SAN Value: 89]
The SAN value decreased slightly, and Wei Xun's forehead itched seeing it. He scratched his forehead and touched the protrusion in front of his forehead. It seemed to have protruded more again.
Did it absorb resentment? xpbYlM
Wei Xun vaguely felt that there was a bit of resentment absorbed by protruding tips, and there were slight resentment that were still lingering in front of his forehead. He was not afraid of death. Therefore, he tried to lead the resentment out. After several attempts, he succeeded!
That energy wasn't much, but Wei Xun confidently directed it to the left eye. A crimson light reflected in his eyes, and a faint red mist obscured his vision.
Chrysanthemum Garden.
After blinking, Wei Xun glanced at the main room and found that he could "see" more clearly. The scarlet resentment gradually dissipated. Through the main room and the coffins, Wei Xun's eyes fell on the corpses in the coffins.
He couldn't see exactly what the corpses looked like, but he could see a pale golden light floating on the surface of the corpses, similar to golden dust. The vast and pure power lurked within the golden light, appearing light-weighing, yet dense, beating like the motherland's pulse that throbbed for a thousand years, like the military medal of martyrs. It appeared like a stark contrast from the scarlet resentment, almost as if it was something holy. Ujpr31
But these "golden dust" had become very thin, and they are being eroded by another kind of dark resentment, gradually becoming dim.
[Beep, you activated a title task!]
Just as Wei Xun was getting interested in observing the 'golden dust' and the dark resentment, the sound of the hotel prompt was in his mind.
[Task name: Unknown] h7uf0c
[Task introduction: Unknown]
[Task reward: Unknown title]
[Task progress: 0.5%]
[Task tip: Do as you did just now!] 4dHMWL
Title task?
Wei Xun's heart throbbed. What did he do just now? Observed resentment? Wei Xun felt that the energy in his left eye was rapidly being consumed, and he knew the energy would not last long before dissipating. Before the energy was exhausted, Wei Xun followed the direction of thick black resentment and looked out.
Boom——!
The strong sense of deterrence and oppression came forward like a surging wave. Wei Xun felt slightly dizzy, and his ears were buzzing. After a while, he came to his senses. rQdL d
With a mere glance, Wei Xun first saw the resentment that was as black as ink on the rotten corpses in the main room.
But what attracted Wei Xun's attention was the scarlet and fierce resentment over the entire Little Dragon Farmstead! The resentment was like a curse that appeared like chains, suppressing the corpses in the main room and sealing them there. The corpses had to constantly face the constant assault of the wind and the rain, unable to escape!
[You have observed the resentment of Pingping, the corpse driver. Resentment level: A class]
[Task progress: 1.5%] IxNbTj
When did Wei Xun leave? No tourists discovered it when he did.
When the invisible resentment finally disappeared, Miao Fangfei and the others were soaked in cold sweat. The most perceptive tourist, Xu Chen, managed to get up with much difficulty, but his legs had gotten weak. When he stood up, his entire body was swaying, and he almost collapsed.
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When everyone got up, Miao Fangfei took the lead and pushed the wooden door open. This time, she didn't hesitate.
In the main room, except for the twelve coffins, there were not many other things around. There was a small altar with a finger's length of thick dust. The scent of the stale corpses was lingering in the air, mixed with the smell of the rain. The smells combined to create an unpleasant odor that lingered in everyone's lungs. acR3nN
The eight coffins in the middle were arranged in descending order. As Miao Fangfei said, there were only eight coffins with wooden tablets in front of them, but they were covered with black mold. This made it hard to decipher who was the person in the coffin.
The windows of the main room were sealed. No light could penetrate in. Only a tiny source of light came from the open door, rendering the entire room dark and gloomy. The fat man lit an outdoor camping lamp and placed it on the small platform to pay tributes, but it was barely enough to illuminate the coffin area.
"These coffins are a little strange."
Hou Feihu pondered, "Previously, I saw what coffins looked like when my comrades in arms were buried. The coffins here..." Ldn47l
"It's not quite "complete", right?"
It wasn't known where Wang Pengpai got his gloves from, but he put on his gloves and carefully felt around the coffin in the center. Touching the coffin from top to bottom, his posture was almost as if he was touching a human. Zhao Hongtu got goosebumps and muttered.
"It's not a coffin. It's a few wooden cases."
"Shh!" 4Fk3 C
Hou Feihu glanced at him sternly and lowered his voice, "Don't talk nonsense."
"He has a point."
Miao Fangfei sighed, and her eyes fell on the coffin in front of her. Her eyes revealed complex emotions, "This is not a proper coffin. It's more like a temporary container."
A container for holding corpses. nQFRES
When building regular coffins, one paid attention to how the coffin is narrow at one end and wide at the other. The whole body of the coffin should be connected by mortise and tenon structure without the use of a nail. Other than the lacquering of the coffin, there were more than a dozen steps that were needed to make the coffin. Some of the steps were easy, while others were complex, such as selecting wood, planing, splicing, carving, and painting. It takes a month for a skilled old coffin maker to make a coffin.
The coffin in front of them was more like a temporary piece of wood. Some of the boards were long, some were short, and each had different thicknesses. The joints couldn't be perfectly combined. If not for the cotton thread tying them together, the boards would have scattered. It was less like a "coffin lid", more like a table split into pieces. The planks were unsteadily laid on top of the coffin, with cotton threads strewn around. At the end of the coffin, there was a long-faded and mouldy black rope.
"It's a stumbling rope."
Fatty Wang lowered his voice, "Be careful. The "elders" in the coffin might show signs of reanimating." dIsWVN
Pulling the stumbling rope down was an act usually committed by the tomb raiders. After they lifted the coffin's lid, they would weave a cinnabar rope at the end of the coffin and at the leg of the corpse. But this was dependent on the condition of the corpse in the coffin. It was said that Jiangshi were stiff and unable to bend. They could only move forward and couldn't step backward initially.
If the Jiangshi got up and stood upright while the grave robber was searching for burial objects, the Jiangshi would trip over the cinnabar rope in front of his feet and delay for a while to allow the grave robber to leave.
Chrysanthemum Garden.
When the other tourists heard what he said, they felt their hearts tightened in fright. Miao Fangfei calmly looked at Hou Feihu, who slowly shook his head.
"I don't sense any foreboding." WVkZM2
[I Have A Sense Of Foreboding (Green Title): You can always feel a sense of foreboding when it knocks on your door. But what can you do when something sinister is already outside the door?]
"Now, I can't see any resentment."
Xu Chen took the initiative to say, "Guide III was just standing outside the door...this is most probably not a branch scenic spot."
Since this was not a branch scenic spot, everyone knew what it meant to have eight coffins in the main room that corresponded to the number of tourists. ItrzZm
"We have to hurry."
Miao Fangfei took the lead in walking to the coffin in front of her and gently pushed away the wooden boards on the coffin. Sure enough, she didn't expend too much energy before the boards slipped away from the coffin. Soon, there was a panoramic view of the things in the coffin.
Inside the coffin was the corpse of a man dressed as a Qing Dynasty soldier. The body was bluish-black, with mercury spots on the dry skin. His eyes, nose, and mouth had all caved together, creating the appearance of a black hole. This was identical to how his eyes seemed, which resembled black holes. His eyes were wide open, and he looked at Miao Fangfei as though he had died unjustly.
The neck of the corpse was covered with rough stitches that appeared like centipedes, as if his head had been completely cut off before it was picked up and stitched together. 7bGULX
When the coffin was opened, the entire main room was quiet. Everyone's eyes were focused on the corpse. The corpse didn't look like an ordinary person. The half-inch-long sharp black nails and the sharp blue teeth protruding from the withered lips all seemed to indicate that he had reanimated.
But from beginning to end, the corpse did not move. He merely lay flat in the coffin, as if it was just a very ordinary corpse.
"Do you remember what Guide III said when he introduced Little Dragon Farmstead?"
Miao Fangfei said in a low voice, "Little Dragon Farmstead was built in the Qing Dynasty. During the invasion of foreign enemies, Luo Rongguang, a general of the late Qing Dynasty, led his troops to defend the Taku forts and died for his country. To thank the general and the soldiers, old chief Ma led his disciples to go out of Hunan and drove the soldiers back to their hometown. When he passed by Wuluo mountain, he once settled in Little Dragon Farmstead." tCKoVU
"That is to say, the corpse driver originally settled in Little Dragon Farmstead, but no one knew why he suddenly put the matter of driving corpses on hold and let these… Elders be trapped here, unable to return to their homeland?"
Shi Tao followed Miao Fangfei's line of thought and looked into Miao Fangfei's eyes with admiration. Most of the modern people had long given up the habit of kneeling. Miao Fangfei's quick thinking was admirable, for she was able to kneel down so decisively and express her reasons as soon as possible to calm down the grievances of their predecessors.
"My last tour was a Dangerous-level tour, of "pit 4 of the terracotta army", and I had a similar experience."
Miao Fangfei said frankly, with a slightly bitter smile, "I didn't understand I had to do it previously... People who knelt slower angered the 'Elders', and they couldn't complete the attraction. Half of the people on the tour died." 4pRQuD
Hiss——
The other tourists' eyebrows jumped in shock, and when their eyes were looking at Miao Fangfei, gratefulness was reflected. If she had not been the first to kneel and say the crucial words, they were afraid they would only subconsciously avoid kneeling or take out their weapons like Zhao Hongtu. This was the instinctive reaction of human beings to avoid danger.
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Due to being locked up in such a crude coffin for a hundred years and unable to return home, the "Elders" that were almost zombified had strong resentment. The mere thought of it had caused them to emit cold sweat. By then, it would be hard to even preserve one's life, let alone complete the attraction.
As people understood this, they began observing Miao Fangfei. They noticed that there were a lot of things in her hand, but she turned them over and put them away soundlessly. TiFrbG
Miao Fangfei was the first to figure out the crucial point and calmed down the resentment of the corpses. She must have won a lot of rewards. This was how the tour works. The first person who resolved the predicament could always be awarded something, while the others would obtain nothing. Only with rich experience, keen thinking, and decisive judgment could one survive in the tours and become more and more powerful.
"There are eight elders. What we have to do in this attraction this time is to send them back to their hometown."
Miao Fangfei looked at the time, then looked at the four empty coffins, frowning, "Be careful when handling them."
"There must be something strange about what happened throughout the years and why the corpse driver left his predecessors here." 1JNDwL
Outside, the rain continued pouring, and the sky became more and more gloomy. A few camping lights were hanging in the main room, rendering the room bright. No one spoke. The tourists were nervous and careful when handling the corpses.
According to the West Sect of Xiangxi corpse driving, cinnabar was first placed in the centre of the deceased's forehead, back, chest, left and right hands, and feet. Each place was pressed with Chenzhou talisman and wrapped with the five-colored cloth.
Previously, corpse drivers used to deal with corpses in the same way, but it was more than a hundred years ago. The cinnabar had faded, and the talisman strips were rotten. This required the tourists to replace them with new ones.
It was not a simple job to prepare the corpses. The rigid corpse was as heavy as iron, and its limbs couldn't be bent. If one wanted to wipe the cinnabar in the right place, one must lift the body and turn it over. Even if the Elders didn't "move about" when they were being dealt with, it would be enough to make things difficult for the tourists to get close to the corpse in the coffin. PXRAKu
Likewise, some corpses were still holding rusty knives. The knife was tightly clutched in their hands, and regardless if one pried their hands, they would not budge. After some time, everyone was sweating, but they didn't dare to let the sweat drop on the corpse. For a moment, everyone looked to be in sorry states.
After a long busy day, Lin Xi and company felt the urgent need to urinate. Along with Hou Feihu and a few others, they went to the toilet together——No one would be so foolish to commit such a simple mistake like going to the toilet alone. Furthermore, everyone was a veteran tourist. Even if one went to the toilet, one's partner must be in sight.
Heave——
It wasn't known how long had elapsed when Miao Fangfei straightened up and wiped the sweat from her arm. Her hands moved agilely, and she had help from Spotty. Now, she's done most of the work. She just needed to put cinnabar onto the corpse's ear, nose, and mouth, paste the Chenzhou Talisman tightly on the corpse, and seal the three souls of the corpse. e7VdUD
Her eyes habitually swept around the room. Suddenly, Miao Fangfei's eyes froze.
"Haven't Lin Xi, Hou Feihu and Xu Chen returned?"
Everyone who was immersed in preparing the corpse finally had their senses return to them. They looked around and did not see any trace of the three people.
"They've been away for too long." Orh2QA
This time, not only Miao Fangfei's expression changed. The other people's expressions changed as well. Miao Fangfei immediately got up and ordered several people: "Shi Tao, Wang Pengpai, follow me——"
"Ah——!!!!"
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The shrill scream suddenly burst out, piercing through the curtain of rain, startling everyone and causing their expressions to change. They rushed out immediately.
"It's Hou Feihu!" BkCGuZ
The scream came from the yard full of rotten corpses!
The author has something to say:
It's the end of the month now. I'm requesting a wave of nutrient solution qwq, thank you little angels!
T/N: Just a heads up, Taoism, Corpse driving, and the battle of Taku Forts will be important in this tour~ DiwLKy
I may be supplementing info here and there where I feel it is needed, but if you guys feel it's boring, feel free to ignore it.