As soon as we flashed into the tomb chamber, Yamamoto urgently shouted, "Close the door! Close the door!" I was still shaken from seeing the corpses surging outside like a tide. Old Li tried to close the door, but in his panic, he stumbled straight into me... Just as chaos erupted among us, Zhuomayangjin, who had been silently behind me, walked over and pulled the tombstone toward the center.

"Clang!" A massive reverberation echoed in the chamber, instantly silencing the disorderly scene. It turned out there was a latch on the back of the tombstone, and Zhuomayangjin closed it, securing it with a loud click—likely due to the sheer force she used.

"We're safe," Zhuomayangjin announced, surveying everyone before dusting off her hands calmly. "The bodies outside can't get in, at least for now..."

Safe? I certainly didn't think so. With that beast Yamamoto among us, could we ever be safe? A cold smirk crossed my lips as I turned to survey the chamber's condition, just in case.

When we rushed in, everything was so haphazard; I hadn't had a chance to properly look at the chamber. Now, taking a careful look, I was utterly dumbfounded. I couldn't make sense of what this place was. If it was supposed to be a tomb chamber, aside from one large, pitch-black sarcophagus, it bore no resemblance to a grave site. It looked more like a vast cavern: the ceiling hung with milky-white stalactite-like formations, and along the left and right walls flowed two dark rivers. One emitted billowing hot steam, while the other was frigidly, eerily cold. These two currents snaked their way tortuously to meet at the floor, and right where they converged sat the enormous sarcophagus. There was nothing else, no other passage for us to escape this place.

I looked at Old Li in despair. He came over and patted my shoulder, trying to comfort me, but his voice trembled involuntarily: "It's alright, we should be able to figure a way out..."

I gave him a numb glance, then lowered my head, saying nothing.

Faced with this massive coffin, everyone fell into a stunned silence, the only sound echoing in the chamber being our own breathing.

This quiet rapidly brought me back to my senses. Since we had endured such hardships to get inside, we had to figure out why this person named Changshuo had meticulously laid so many traps throughout the cave, only for them to seem like mere decorations once we reached the main chamber. More importantly, the two water veins converged here, and his sarcophagus didn't rest on the ground but was perched atop five stone stools lined up side-by-side. Even an amateur like me knew this was an unsuitable location for interment and sealing a nexus point; the moisture was too heavy, which would cause the corpse and coffin to decompose quickly. As a third-rank official, he certainly wouldn't have lacked geomancy experts to select his burial site... So why was it like this? Furthermore, the Qing Dynasty had strict ceremonial laws governing all official burials; what tradition dictated this style of interment?

After pondering for a long time yielded no answers, I had to consult Old Li. After hearing my analysis, Old Li first asked me, "Did Zhuomayangjin say the tombstone inscription marked the Renchen year?"

"Yes," I confirmed.

He lowered his head, calculated on his fingers, and then said, "That's 1892. October 1892..." He paused, then added, "Didn't Zhuomayangjin mention a man named Shengtai earlier, saying the tomb's owner was under his command?"

Zhuomayangjin immediately jumped in, "Yes. Shengtai had a subordinate named Changshuo; my grandfather told me about it, so I know it very well."

I was about to ask her why, if she knew this was the tomb of a third-rank Qing Dynasty military official, she had also linked it to those shameless devils. But before the words could leave my mouth, Yamamoto stepped aggressively in front of the three of us and blurted out, "Why don't we open the coffin and take a look?"

I glanced at him and sneered, "Who knows what's in that coffin? What if it’s a blood-sucking Jiangshi... Since you're so keen, why don't you lift the lid first and check it out!"

I had only intended to frighten him a little, not actually expecting him to go. To my surprise, Yamamoto beamed at the suggestion, handed his rifle to Takeyano, and started moving toward the sarcophagus.

"Yamamoto-kun!" Zhuomayangjin grabbed him, switching from Japanese to Mandarin and speaking seriously, "Yamamoto-kun, you are an expert on China and know that the Chinese value propriety. The coffin of a distinguished third-rank official cannot be casually defiled by outsiders." Saying this, she shot me a meaningful look. "Tell him, don't you agree, Technician Luo?"

I replied with an "I do." Zhuomayangjin continued, "Yamamoto-kun, you heard him. So, you should rest for now. Let Technician Luo and the others go take an initial look at the situation."

Yamamoto tried to push past, but Zhuomayangjin held him tightly, repeatedly urging Old Li and me to hurry and lift the coffin lid. Seeing Yamamoto’s utterly repulsive demeanor made my blood boil; I wished I could just shoot him then and there. Old Li noticed the change in my expression and quickly pulled me toward the coffin, saying, "Let's go look first."

As Old Li and I approached the sarcophagus, memories of the zombies outside and earlier ghastly encounters made my heart pound wildly. What on earth was inside this thing? Given what we'd seen, it was a thousand-to-one chance that it contained a properly decomposed corpse of a third-rank military official...

I started to lose my nerve, stammering, "Old Li... I..."

Old Li didn't look up. He squatted down and said in a deep voice, "Step on my shoulders. You are thinner than me; I'm heavier, and you definitely can't support me. Besides, because you're thin, you’ll be much more agile, and your reactions will be faster if anything happens."

There was nothing around the sarcophagus to step on. Considering our builds—I was indeed much leaner and lighter than him—there was no other way; I truly had to stand on his shoulders to look at the lid and assess the situation. I couldn't very well ask Zhuomayangjin to go.

I gritted my teeth, hardened my resolve, and said, "Fine... You... give me the peach wood sword." Having the Thunder-Struck Peach Wood Sword meant I could at least defend myself against ghosts or monsters, which would bring some peace of mind.

Old Li complied, taking out his Thunder-Struck Peach Wood Sword for me. I took it and held it horizontally between my teeth, then stepped onto Old Li's shoulders...

I was still a little short of seeing the lid. "Not enough, stand up a little higher," I instructed.

Old Li gripped the foot I had placed on his shoulder and slowly rose a bit more. This time, I easily grasped the edge of the coffin—no, I easily saw what was inside the coffin—there was no lid!

When I saw the thing, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I rubbed them hard and looked again, staring wide-eyed. It was true, absolutely true. Instantly, my limbs turned ice-cold, and my scalp prickled. I fell straight backward off Old Li's shoulders.

Old Li was bent over, making it impossible to grip me securely. I crashed onto my back, hitting the ground hard enough to leave me dizzy and seeing stars.

Zhuomayangjin reacted with lightning speed, rushing to my side and anxiously asking, "Technician Luo, are you hurt? Are you hurt? Why is your face so pale... Don't scare me, where did you get hit?" Her voice was choked with tears, as if I were mortally wounded and about to die.

I knew my expression must have been terrible, but when I tried to speak, only icy tendrils seemed to leak from my chest, chilling my entire body. I couldn't utter a single word.

Old Li and the Japanese devils simultaneously crowded around, all repeatedly demanding to know what I had seen.

I scanned their faces, unsure how to articulate what I had witnessed. I wished I had been mistaken. But... that thing was lying there so clearly; how could I have misseen it after looking multiple times? After a long silence, I finally managed to speak with difficulty: "The... the new recruit... that deserter..."

At these words, everyone’s expression changed drastically.

Zhuomayangjin grabbed me and shook me violently. "What did you say? What deserter?" Her hand was trembling, and her voice had warped.

Shaken dizzy by her, I forcefully pulled her hand away and tried to regain my composure, repeating my previous statement: "The coffin holds the deserter. The deserter we lost."

Hearing this, Zhuomayangjin shot up, almost commanding Old Li, "Li Zeng, lift me up."

Old Li shook his head, decisively refusing. "You are a woman, absolutely not."

Yamamoto immediately interjected, "Then I'll go... I’ll look..."

Old Li cast him a sidelong glance, sneered faintly, and said nothing.

Yamamoto stepped back two paces, abandoning his effort to get past Old Li, and told Takeyano to similarly lift him to check the contents of the coffin.

I finally managed to pull myself together, struggling to stand up. Zhuomayangjin quickly helped me steady myself. I stood unsteadily and stated, "There is more than one person in the coffin. The deserter is on top, and the corner of an official uniform is visible underneath."

"What!" Old Li and Zhuomayangjin gasped in unison. "The deserter is in the coffin?"

I was too weak to explain and just gestured toward Yamamoto's reaction. As expected, after Takeyano lifted him to the coffin's edge, Yamamoto also let out a cry and tumbled off Takeyano's shoulders.

However, unlike me, he immediately rolled over and scrambled up after falling. He hugged Takeyano, jumping and singing with excitement, just as they had been when they first encountered the Faceless King Wei Cheng.

I immediately became alert, wanting to urge Old Li to stop the Japanese soldier from approaching the coffin again. But before I could speak, Zhuomayangjin worriedly asked, "Technician Luo, did that deserter inside turn into a Faceless One?"

I was startled. "How did you know?"

Zhuomayangjin opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly, a sharp "click" sounded from inside the coffin, followed by a muffled "thud," as if something had struck the inner surface of the coffin.

Before any visible abnormality appeared in the coffin, Zhuomayangjin nervously dragged me toward the tombstone.

"What are you doing?" I shook off her hand and stood firm.

Zhuomayangjin tugged on my sleeve, forcibly pulling me to stand by the tombstone, then called for Old Li and the Japanese soldiers to come over quickly. After shouting, she stared intently at the pitch-black coffin, her expression complex: excitement, terror, anticipation...