Here Lies The Wicked - Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Those Who Disappeared

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After the team entered the bottom of the river, they quickly approached the cluster of stone buildings.

The air was filled with the fishy smell of seaweed mud.

The stone road under their feet was covered with thick moss—it was slippery and difficult to find footing.

These people were disciplined. No one made any obnoxious sounds or chatted privately.

All of them followed the middle-aged man with straight brows named Leader Shen, and observed their surroundings vigilantly.

When they stepped into the range of the stone houses, they saw that most of it was destroyed and the surroundings were filled with collapsed ruins. Only two lonely houses stood in the middle.

“Search.”

Everybody spread out and started combing through the ancient buildings.

Leader Shen brought the ten odd people who stood near him and personally started searching the two intact stone houses located in the middle of the cluster.

When they approached the two stone houses, they discovered that the design of the house was very weird. There were no windows and only a bronze double door was left. After being underwater for such a long time, the metal had corroded into a rusty green.

One of the two houses had an intact bronze door but the bronze door of the other house had broken down after years of being soaked. Looking from outside, the inside of the house was so dark that one would not even be able to see their own fingers. Only the large amount of sediment at the door could be slightly seen.

“Li Heng, bring a few people and clean up that stone house. See if there are any findings. I’ll continue my search at the house in front of me.”

The team of ten separated into two.

Leader Shen led the rest of the team and started cleaning the mud and sand on the door that was intact to see if they could find any leads. Before he understood the situation, he stayed calm and did not rush to open the door.

However, these people were not archaeologists so they cleaned in a rough manner but got it done in no time. They had indeed found some clues on the bronze door.

The ancients had always respected the bronze culture and often used it as sacrificial utensils. For example, when royals, generals, or high ranking officials were buried, they used a lot of bronze items as their funerary objects. The achievements of the death were carved on the bronze items to sing praises of them. The bronze door in front of them was filled with cravings that were suspected to be the life story of a person.

It’s just that with the long-term exposure of the bronze to the harsh and humid environment, the surface of the bronze was severely rusted and large areas of the carvings have been destroyed. It can only be seen vaguely that the beginning was about a man.

However, the middle part was a big piece of blur.

Their sight jumped to the end and finally made a discovery.

On the carvings were two sections of a body, cut apart at the waist area. Thin lines that represent blood were carved around the wound area and seems to indicate that the person was still alive when he or she was cut into half.

Then two coffins appeared. A group of people started lifting the two segments of bodies that were still bleeding.

The images after that were damaged.

Where images could be seen again, the carvings depicted that someone had lifted a hammer and was nailing the coffin shut.

The carvings at the bottom were all destroyed and it was impossible to see what was described there.

The final burial place of the two coffins also could not be seen.

“If the man who had been cut at the waist area is the man at the beginning, it would seem that this man had been cruelly placed into two coffins and nailed shut after he had been cut whilst still bleeding and alive. He suffocated in the coffin.”

“This means that he had been cut at the waist area and buried alive?” Leader Shen’s straight brows were tightly furrowed and his face was filled with seriousness.

No matter if it was being cut at the waist area or buried alive, both were extremely cruel ways of torture.

Who was this man and what kind of powerful person did he offend that he was subjected to two types of cruel torture. One can only imagine how deep his resentment was before he passed away.

No wonder he was buried at the bottom of the river, sunk into the underworld for eternity.

The others were very disciplined as none of them spoke up. Leader Shen pondered for a moment and spoke into the walkie-talkie, “Old Yan1, I found some interesting clues on these stone houses. Do you have any findings on your side?”

A reply came from the other end of the walkie-talkie swiftly, “Did you also discover the carvings on the bronze door at your side?”

“It looks like you’ve also discovered it,” Leader Shen replied as he commanded his people to make preparations in order to open the bronze door.

At this moment, Leader Yan said mysteriously, “I’ll provide you with another clue. Look at the orientation of these houses. Did you notice that these houses do not lay on the North-South orientation—all of them lay on the East-West orientation.”

Leader Shen’s facial expression changed when he heard this.

He quickly lifted his head and checked cautiously. All of the houses, destroyed or intact, laid on the East-West orientation.

There’s a proverb among the people, ‘Doors that face the South, descendants shall prosper; doors that face the West, tears shall be shed’.

The meaning of this proverb was that when the door faces West, lighting would be extremely poor and sunlight would not be visible in the house all day long. The interior of the house would be gloomy and cold.

Another rumor among the people was that newborns could see things that normal people could not. The reason babies cry non-stop was that they were frightened by the horrible things they saw. This echoed the phrase ‘Doors that face the West, tears shall be shed’.

Leader Shen’s facial expression changed because he thinks that this cluster of stone buildings at the bottom of the river was not kept for those who built this tomb!

There might be another purpose for it!

Further excavation led Leader Shen to feel that the thing buried at the bottom of the river was deeper than expected.

Just as he was worrying, Leader Yan’s surprised voice transmitted from the walkie-talkie.

“Eh? This is… Old pal, you absolutely can’t imagine it. I made a big discovery here!”

“What is it?” Leader Shen’s spirit was lifted.

However, there was only silence coming from the walkie-talkie as if the signal had been interrupted.

Leader Shen immediately had a bad feeling.

He stayed calm and did not yell at the walkie-talkie. He lowered his breathing and waited for an answer from the other side. At the same time, he asked those around him to stay quiet.

Ten seconds… 20 seconds… One minute, huff, huff… The walkie-talkie was quiet like a pool of dead water—only the sound of Leader Yan’s breathing was left.

Crack, Crack, Crack… Suddenly! A weird sound came from the walkie-talkie. It sounded like sections of bones were being twisted.

Crack, Crack…

The sound transmitted continuously. Immediately, Leader Shen’s expression changed.

“Run!”

All of a sudden, leader Yan’s weak voice came from the walkie-talkie but stopped abruptly when he spoke halfway. He was yelling at Leader Shen to ask him and his team to run!

Leader Shen’s eyes were filled with pain and sadness, but he ordered firmly that the entire team immediately leave the bottom of the river and go ashore.

However, at that important moment, somebody discovered that Li Heng and the rest of the team that entered the other stone house to search for clues showed no activities since they entered the stone house.

Leader Shen immediately went over to search with his team.

They did not find any trace of Li Heng and the rest. When asking the people nearby, they all claimed that they did not see Li Heng and the team exit the stone house after they entered it.

All of a sudden, they could not find them in person or their bodies. Five or six living people unexpectedly disappeared under their watch.

Just as everyone was looking for the few missing people, someone yelled in surprise, “When did the mist start to appear at the bottom of the river!”