They felt an oppressive force bearing down on them, daring not to make the slightest disrespectful move, merely staring at her blankly, afraid to utter a sound, as if this was their due station—the one above was their sovereign, and they were her subjects.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the corpse remained still, yet they felt no urgency, continuing to gaze fixedly, not daring to harbor a single thought of resistance.

Only Rosa, the foreigner, seemed unfamiliar with Chinese customs; typically, they would simply bow once to their monarch. Thus, she offered a courteous nod, but her gaze caught something different: behind the Queen's coffin, several figures knelt motionlessly on the ground, in the exact same reverent posture as Lu Zong and the others.

A sense of dread washed over her. Upon closer inspection, she saw the bodily fluids of those figures had already drained—they had clearly been dead for a long time.

A sudden thought struck her: must these people kneel until they died?

Now, only she could see those few corpses. If Lu Zong and the others could see them too, wouldn't they, like her, know the truth?

She hurried to Lu Zong's side, intending to pull him up, but his strength was immense; she couldn't budge him. Exerting all her might, she managed to slowly lift Lu Zong's head and began dragging his body, inch by painstaking inch, toward the coffin.

Finally, she pulled Lu Zong behind the coffin and pointed toward the corpses concealed there, saying, "Look, you are about to be enslaved by the Queen to this degree, yet you still worship her?"

Lu Zong understood instantly upon seeing them. He coughed heavily several times, gasping for breath before slowly recovering. "It seems this Queen truly possesses demonic power. Earlier, she was able to make our reverence for her reach the point of utter prostration."

He looked at the devout followers with a wry smile, then walked over and began pulling them, one by one, behind the coffin.

Without the Queen's frontal influence, seeing the corpses behind her, they immediately grasped what had happened. They awoke as if from a dream, coughed violently, and collapsed to the ground, panting.

Lu Zong wheezed, "It seems she intends for everyone who comes to see her to kneel here until they die. Truly, no heart is more venomous than a woman's."

He turned back to look at the Queen's mummy and asked, "Should we take her back with us?"

The four voices answered in unison, "Forget it, forget it. Taking her would only invite trouble. Let her stay here!"

Lu Zong glanced over, then said regretfully, "Then our chances of getting the Silk Road designated as a World Heritage site have significantly decreased, as this is the most famous artifact associated with it. If it's lost, wouldn't all our efforts have been for naught?"

The five exchanged glances; the matter was indeed thorny. They turned back to look at the ancient corpse in front of them. It lay peacefully in the coffin, a pure wooden casket trimmed with golden-hued bronze ornamentation. Beneath it lay a thin layer of silk gauze, the fine silk cotton produced during the prosperous Tang Dynasty. He wiped the silk surface; it still seemed warm, soft and yielding. He said to the four behind him, "Look at this silk beneath her—it's from the Tang Dynasty, yet it's still this soft. I truly wonder where they sourced it from."

Ma Xiong remarked, "I don't think things are this simple. From the missing corpse to the many people we encountered on the road—can all of this be accomplished by this mummy alone? I suspect someone is manipulating things from behind the scenes, an unseen puppet master. They are definitely not modern people."

Fatty chimed in, "Who cares who they are? Look how well preserved this female corpse is. Even if we take her back, they might not believe us, and they could just charge us with murder. We should leave quickly."

Lu Zong looked at Fatty, realizing his point held merit. In this current world, without regard for right or wrong, they might very well pin such a charge on them.

Suddenly, they felt the floor vibrate. In that moment of hesitation, the mummy let out a piercing shriek that jolted their nerves, causing them to whip their heads toward the mummy, but it remained unchanged, resting placidly in the coffin.

Ma Xiong seemed to notice something and reached toward the mummy's chest.

Lu Zong slapped Ma Xiong's hand away. "Ma Xiong, what are you doing?"

Ma Xiong pointed at her chest. "Look there, there seems to be something."

Lu Zong looked at the mummy's chest and indeed, a piece of white paper was peeking out from under her robes. He reached out to grab it but was stopped short by Ma Xiong. "Hold on, it might be a trap. Let's test it."

He told everyone to step back, then pulled out his dagger and gently nudged the paper near the woman's chest. Instantly, the woman lunged as if driven mad, opening her cavernous mouth to snap at the paper. Ma Xiong quickly pulled his knife back in fright.

The female corpse missed the object, and her head retracted slightly. However, because the corpse had bitten near it, a little more of the paper was exposed. They strained to make out the writing but failed. Finally, they gave up. Han Chong, however, observed that there were bloodstains on the paper.

He mentioned this to the others, and they all noticed the bloodstains simultaneously. Ma Xiong wondered if the paper had somehow wriggled out of the corpse's body when she shrieked.

To avoid disturbing the corpse further, Ma Xiong crept forward quietly and yanked the paper sharply with both hands. The mummy didn't react, and he let out a breath of relief. He brought the paper to Lu Zong. "See what this says?"

Before Lu Zong could examine it closely, he noticed the mummy behind Ma Xiong’s back suddenly open its eyes. Those hollow eyes fixed intently on Ma Xiong. Knowing this was bad, Lu Zong urgently called out for Ma Xiong to flee.

The mummy behind him suddenly opened its massive mouth and let out a ghastly howl. Simultaneously, everything nearby seemed to be sucked into its maw, and even he felt himself being pulled toward its mouth.

He grabbed onto nearby objects to anchor himself but found that only Fatty's base felt somewhat solid, so he latched onto Fatty.

The others, equally quick-witted as Fatty, clung tightly to him as well.

But Fatty was not a multi-ton object, and his body was slowly being drawn toward the mummy’s mouth, making him scream in terror.

Lu Zong suddenly noticed that this mummy had no ears.

He cried out in alarm, "Wait, this mummy's ears are gone!"

Ma Xiong quickly looked at the mummy and chuckled foolishly, "Look at the thing on its mouth—what else could that be if not an ear? I say, it has no mouth at all."

Lu Zong quickly looked and indeed, the mummy's mouth was shaped like an ear. No wonder its power was so immense. This also explained why the Shaman held ears in such high regard.

Seeing that there was no allure behind the female corpse, Lu Zong instructed everyone, "When I say so, we will all dash quickly behind the corpse. We’ll be safe then!"

Saying this, he bolted toward the female corpse first. When he was still dozens of li away from her, he abruptly changed direction, altering his trajectory to swing past the female corpse.

He gasped for breath heavily but didn't forget to urge the others to follow quickly.

Ma Xiong, pulling Rosa, followed the path Lu Zong had shown.

Lu Zong threw a belt to Han Chong, who crossed by holding onto the strap.

By this time, the real storm was intensifying. Fatty, having misjudged his direction and momentum, was unfortunately sucked toward the female corpse and vanished.

The remaining group stared blankly at the female corpse and the spot where Fatty disappeared, speechless. He had vanished at the final, critical moment of their endeavor.

Suddenly, from an unknown direction, Fatty's shout echoed, "Lu Zong, Lu Zong, save me, save me!"

They frantically searched the surroundings, but Fatty was nowhere to be seen—not on the ground, nor overhead. "Fatty, where are you?" they called out.

Fatty roared, "Save me, save me! Ma Xiong, save me!" It seemed Fatty couldn't hear their voices at all.

Fatty’s voice continued, sounding as if it came from a distant place, yet it seemed to resonate right beside their ears, like a sound wave pressing down from above. When they looked up, the sound seemed to come from the front, as if Fatty was constantly shifting his location.

Lu Zong sensed the strangeness of the situation. "Let the four of us stand back-to-back, each observing a different direction, to see if we can spot Fatty."

With that, the four instantly formed a small unit, each facing a cardinal direction. Lu Zong shouted, "Fatty, can you hear me?"

He instructed the others to shout similarly, but there was no response from Fatty.

He started to grow anxious.

None of the four could see any sign of Fatty.

He suddenly recalled the piece of paper and quickly took it out to examine it. The more he looked, the more familiar it felt, as if something was stirring in his mind—he knew it was inspiration.

"Ah, I know! I know! Everyone, follow me quickly! I know what's happening!"

With that, he rushed to the front of the mummy and stood perfectly still. Soon, Lu Zong also vanished in front of the mummy.

This left the three standing there, exchanging bewildered glances, unsure what Lu Zong was up to.

Ma Xiong stared at the spot where Lu Zong disappeared. "Does he mean we should climb into the female corpse's belly?"

Fatty looked on with deep concern, then slumped his head in dejection, uncertain whether they should follow.

As they hesitated, Lu Zong’s voice suddenly came from above their heads: "Ma Xiong, Fatty, if you can hear me, hurry to the front of the female corpse! I know how to get you out, hurry up!"

Fatty was about to ask Lu Zong for an explanation, but Ma Xiong stopped him. "Arguing now is useless; he can't hear us. We should follow him. At least they aren't dead."

Saying this, he walked to the front of the female corpse and vanished.

The others followed Ma Xiong's example, stepping up to the female corpse and disappearing completely.