Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 72
一
There is not a shred of light in the tomb.The smell of spices wafted in the air, but the spices couldn't cover up the stench of corpses that filled every corner.Those corpses that have long been decomposed or are decomposing record the history of a family.

Two figures walked through the huge tomb.They didn't light candles, but they had eyes that could see in the dark. They skillfully walked through the tombs, opened sarcophagi, looked for valuable funeral objects, and let out low sighs of surprise from time to time.The Tang family in Ningnan City is the first aristocratic family of the Yu clan to start doing business with humans. It has accumulated considerable wealth for hundreds of years. Although the Yuren do not like to use a large number of funeral objects like humans, according to tradition, the deceased They usually carry one or two favorite items during their lifetime—for noble families, they are often precious jade, pearl inscriptions, antiques, etc., which can be sold for a lot of money.

The two tomb thieves waited almost half their lives for this opportunity, and now, the door of fate was finally opened to them.

The Hua family brothers and sisters are a pair of tomb robbers who are well-known in Ningzhou. Of course, this kind of fame is limited to the industry.As Yuren, the brothers and sisters of the Hua family do not have the respect and taboo towards corpses that ordinary Yuren think, so they do smoothly in this line of work.The two coveted Tang's family tomb in southern Ningnan for a long time, but Tang was rich and powerful, so he specially invited experts from Donglu human institutions to arrange various hidden weapons in the tomb. For hundreds of years, famous people who died in Tang's tomb There must be dozens of tomb robbers, so they are just coveting, and they still dare not act rashly.

But ten days ago, an opportunity fell from the sky.Tang Qi, the third son of the Tang family, was bitten by a tiger while hunting in the southern forest of Ningzhou, and died of his injuries.Just as his body was being transported back to Ningnan in a coffin filled with antiseptic drugs, and was about to be buried according to family rules, an old housekeeper of the Tang family found the brothers and sisters of the Hua family.

"My son has recently owed a large amount of gambling debts, and he will have to pay with his life if he doesn't pay the debts," the old housekeeper said straight to the point, "so I want to cooperate with the two of you to get some money from the Tang family's tomb." I just need to keep the money for repaying the debt, and the rest will go to the two of you."

"How about a cooperation method?" Hua Shengyun, the eldest brother of the Hua family siblings, suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked lightly.He knew that it would not be easy for a layman to find these two experts whose whereabouts were uncertain, which showed his sincerity.

"I have mastered the method to open the main organ in the tomb," said the old butler. "In three days, the third young master will be buried. I will send the coffin into the tomb as an attendant and replace it with a special sarcophagus made by the family. There is a chance to quietly shut down the main gate before leaving the tomb."

"What's the use of just shutting down the main engine?" sister Huatang asked.

"The most powerful mechanism in this tomb is activated by the main mechanism," said the old butler. "If it is closed, the remaining corners will not be difficult for two masters of this level."

This high-level flattery is very useful to the Hua brothers and sisters.Enticed by the Tang family's treasures from past dynasties, the two finally made an agreement with the housekeeper, agreed to the matter, and chose to dig a hole to sneak in on the night that Mr. Tang San was buried.Judging from the current situation, the butler did not break his promise, and the two of them did not encounter any particularly powerful mechanism along the way. They easily sneaked into the core part of the tomb—the tombs divided by ages, and successfully found a lot of good things.

Finally, the brothers and sisters came to the last sarcophagus, which contained the body of the recently deceased third young master Tang Qi.This poor young man, who could have enjoyed a lifetime of luxury and happiness, lost his life because of a stinking beast.The worst thing is that even the objects buried with him have to be stolen right now.

Huatang quickly pried open the sarcophagus and put her hand inside.By convention, the deceased of the Tang family will lie on their backs with their hands crossed in front of their chests after encoffining, and the buried souvenirs will generally be held in the palms of their hands.So Huatang followed the same pattern, she almost didn't even look at it, she stretched out her hand to break the dead man's fingers.However, something completely unexpected happened.

——The dead man in the coffin suddenly turned his wrist and twisted her wrist!

The corpse has changed!This was Huatang's first reaction.Although she is no longer afraid of dead bodies after entering the industry for many years, the resurrected zombies are obviously beyond her ability to bear.She let out a heartbreaking scream, and tried desperately to shake off the opponent's wrist, but this "zombie" hand was very weird, as if it was stuck to her wrist, and she couldn't shake it no matter what open.

"Keep your voice down! What's the matter?" Hua Shengyun asked hastily, not forgetting to warn her sister not to startle the people outside.

"Help me! Brother!" Hua Tang yelled desperately, "It's a fraudulent corpse! Help!"

Fuck that cowardly woman!Hua Shengyun was very annoyed, if he kept shouting like this, people outside the tomb might hear him, and that would be a real catch.He didn't bother to think about the fraudulent corpse, and his first reaction was to cover his sister's mouth first, but something even weirder happened: the zombie was one step ahead of him, and stretched out the other hand first, Huatang pinched the back of her neck.

This blow was as fast as lightning, Huatang was hit before he could dodge, and then he seemed to be a little suffocated, and squatted on the ground, unable to make a sound.And the zombie in the sarcophagus jumped out immediately, Hua Shengyun rushed forward, reached out and twisted the joints of the zombie's hands.

But this zombie's joint technique seemed to be more proficient than Hua Shengyun's. With a flick of his wrist, he had already blocked the opponent's hands, and then turned back.Hua Shengyun's hands felt sore and numb, and he couldn't exert any strength at once.He quickly changed his move, raised his leg and kicked the zombie's waist, but the zombie was already on guard, spread his left hand, and tapped his knee joint lightly, his leg became limp and fell to the ground.

It seems that this is still a zombie with high martial arts skills!Hua Shengyun was in despair.But the zombie did not take advantage of the momentum to pursue, but made a strange gesture towards Hua Shengyun.Although the terrifying face of the zombie could not be seen clearly in the dark, the meaning of that gesture was unmistakable.

The zombie put his index finger on his lips, signaling Hua Shengyun to "keep quiet".

What is this doing?A zombie ordering the living to shut up?Hua Shengyun was confused.What made him even more confused was that the zombie made another move: he took out a piece of paper from his bosom and handed it to Hua Shengyun.

The tomb robber hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at his sister. She was just rubbing her neck in pain, but she seemed to be fine. Her hands and legs seemed to be regaining consciousness, and there was no serious injury.He thought for a while, took the paper, and couldn't help being stunned when he looked at it carefully - it was a silver note with a face value of one thousand gold baht.

Before he could react, the zombie had already spoken, which sounded like a normal young man's voice: "You two have worked so hard to come here to help, and this thousand gold baht is considered a thank you."

After a while, the brothers and sisters of the Hua family realized that this was not a resurrected zombie, but a living person, but they had been sleeping in Tang Qi's sarcophagus, which made them misunderstand.

"Who the hell are you?" Huatang was finally able to speak at this moment, her voice was full of anger, "Why are you here to amuse us?"

"Pastime? You really wronged me," "Zombie" said, "you two have helped me a lot this time. Without you, I can't get out of this tomb, I can only become a real zombie gone."

The brothers and sisters looked at each other, and the "zombie" smiled softly, exercising his muscles and bones while continuing to say: "I have been in Ningzhou for some days, and I have been trying to find a way to enter Ningnan City, but recently the defense in the city is extremely strict. The goods have to be carefully inspected. I really can't think of any other way except to hide in the coffin of the third young master of the Tang family. But the remaining problem is how to get out of this tomb after I sneak in... "

"So you asked that old housekeeper to come to us, but you just wanted to use us to dig holes for you!" Hua Shengyun suddenly realized, "Damn it, that old man really has no good intentions!"

"In fact, he is not completely lying," said "Zombie". "His son did owe a lot of gambling debts, so that he had to leave Ningnan City, and went around looking for relatives to borrow money with an old face. I fell in love with him, and I just heard about the death of Young Master Tang San, so I came up with this idea. I paid off the gambling debt for him, and asked him to find a way to lure the two of you to rob the tomb. Send it here and seal it up, that's how it happened. Of course, I promised him that I wouldn't let the two of you take away the funeral objects here, please forgive me."

The "zombie" speaks politely and politely, but there is an irresistible force in his voice. The brothers and sisters of the Hua family are not stupid idiots. Knowing that their martial arts skills are too far behind their opponents, they simply don't bother to argue. Well, the denomination of one thousand gold baht is really not small, so this trip is not in vain.

"Your will is really strong enough," Hua Shengyun let out a long breath, "Even if you have antiseptic drugs, you have been squeezed in a small coffin with a corpse for so many days... I fold it in your hands Li, it is considered convinced. But have you ever thought about what should you do if the old man doesn't find us, or if we don't agree after finding us?"

"Then it's a big deal to die here and be with the Tang family's heroic spirits of all generations," "Zombie" said very easily, "In life, there are always things to do that are worth risking with your life."

Hua Shengyun didn't say any more, and after a while, he remembered that he hadn't asked the other party's name and identity: "I was played around by you, so I did you a little favor, can you tell me your name?"

"Zombie" smiled: "I'm sorry, I've been in the coffin for too long, and I even forgot this, it's really rude. My name is An, and my name is An Xingmian. I'm a long-door monk."

"Looking at your hair color, you must be a human being, right?" Hua Tang asked curiously, "But why do your martial arts look like the joint skills of our Yu clan?"

"This girl has good eyesight," An Xingmian did not deny. "A featherman taught me these joint skills. He always taught me, 'What's the use of your human fists, no matter how big or hard they are? As long as you can Wouldn’t it be enough to just break the fist?’”

"It makes sense..." Hua Shengyun murmured, "But you insisted on sneaking into Ningnan at such a high risk, why?"

A smirk appeared on Huatang's face: "Isn't it just to meet your beloved girl?"

An Xingmian was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing.After laughing for a long time, he stopped and said to Huatang solemnly: "You guessed it right."

two

With a "bang", the big and hard fist swung out and hit the body hard, so the body flew out, knocked over a table, and then fell heavily into the leftovers and cold wine all over the floor.The owner of the body, a burly man with a steel knife in his hand, has passed out.

"See clearly, you're here, don't expect to be able to scare people with a shiny knife in your hand! If you have the guts, get something hard, otherwise just pretend to be a coward!" The owner of the fist said contemptuously. Said, "Xiao Er, record the broken things on the account!" This is a short and thin man with a red face. Lian Jiazi.

The companions of the big man with the knife hurriedly helped the unconscious guy up, and half dragged and half dragged him back to the room.They all glared at the red-faced man, but it was limited to that, no one dared to go up to humiliate themselves.Most of the other people sitting in the lobby of this inn pretended that nothing had happened, they just looked out of the gate helplessly, at the black and yellow sky.There, the sand particles mixed with the wind, danced wildly, and made a terrifying howling sound, like an ancient monster, ready to open its mouth and swallow the whole earth in its stomach at any time.

"It seems that this storm will last for a few more days," the inn clerk said helplessly while cleaning up the mess caused by the fight with his hands and feet skillfully, "I hope you guys don't demolish the house."

This inn is located on the edge of the southwest Gobi at the junction of Ningzhou and Hanzhou. You can reach this vast and desolate Gobi by crossing the Gogo Mountains that separate the two states.From Hanzhou to Ningzhou, crossing the Gobi is a very fast shortcut, but it is also the most dangerous choice.The Goge Mountains are steep and covered with snow all the year round. Because it is a strategic location, there are soldiers patrolling it all year round.The southwest Gobi is thousands of miles uninhabited, and there are all kinds of beasts and poisonous insects. However, in the past few hundred years, the environment here has become worse and worse. There are far fewer wild beasts and poisonous insects, but the Gobi has gradually evolved into a desert that is more terrifying than wild animals.The reason why people still call it the Gobi is just following the habit of the past. Maybe one day in the future, this place will be directly renamed the Southwest Desert.

However, in order to save precious time, many daring businessmen or warriors with special missions will still risk crossing this desert called Gobi, and some people who are hunted down or arrested will try to escape by taking advantage of the harsh natural environment birthday.In addition, according to legend, there is a black market hidden in the center of the Southwestern Gobi, where people can trade some dangerous items that are not allowed by the law.

There is a small market on the edge of the southwest Gobi, and there are some itinerant merchants in it, selling supplies such as water and water bags necessary for crossing the Gobi, and the price will naturally not be cheap.In addition, there used to be several inns here, but because the people who dared to come here were basically not good people, there were too many people fighting in the inns, not only smashing things, but also getting injured by accident, so other inns were closed one after another , only this lonely family is left.Some people said that it was because the shopkeeper was so lively, and he was happy to see people fighting, but in fact, few people could see the shopkeeper's face, and the inn was usually run by the shopkeeper and the guys.The old shopkeeper, who was as thin as a cowpea, was always sleepy, dozing off at other times when he was not doing accounts, and he seemed to be able to sleep well even if troubles tore down the inn.

It is September, the season with the densest wind and sand in the southwest Gobi, but this year's dust is more violent than in previous years. For more than ten days in a row, the sky seems to be covered by a dark curtain. There is a suffocating sense of oppression.Batch after batch of travelers were blocked, because finding their way in the vast sea of ​​sand in the face of sandstorms was tantamount to seeking death. They could only stay in this only inn and wait for the wind and sand to subside before moving on.So the inn was crowded from the room to the lobby, and even the stables were filled with people.Fortunately, it is just September and the weather is not too cold, otherwise it would be even more difficult.

The brawl that just happened was just a small episode that everyone is used to these days.It is always inevitable for warriors to stagger when they are crowded together, and they don't care if they see too much.Those who are afraid of getting into trouble will hide their edge at this time, while others are eager to find something to exercise their muscles and bones-anyway, idleness is idleness.

After the fight, the inn was finally quiet for a while, of course this kind of quietness is relative.No one was fighting, and the rest of the people sat together in twos and threes, chatting and bragging, playing cards and gambling money, which still seemed quite noisy.This kind of noise continued until the afternoon, until the patrolling soldiers of the Yu clan arrived.

This is a daily routine these days. The Yuzu officials, who have always been extremely loose in the management of this small border market, or do not want to control it at all, for some reason, suddenly began to strictly screen the passing people.Most of those who are willing to take this path have more or less stains on their bodies, and they are naturally worried when they are checked by the soldiers.But the second strange thing is that the soldiers didn't give them too much trouble. Once they confirmed their identity, they stopped pestering them. Even if they asked a few more questions, they might find out that this person had a murder case.People quickly came to the conclusion that what these Yuren were looking for was a specific target, and their interest was only in this one target.They will not stop until they find this person.

(End of this chapter)