Having figured out the identity of these people, the fear in our hearts vanished.

It turned out that the laughter wasn't coming from ghosts, but from these rats hiding in the coffins.

Now we finally understood where Liu Huangshu's (Historical figure from the Three Kingdoms period) rat-like subordinates had gone; this group had burrowed into the coffins.

But what was eerie was that this rat in front of us already had his head smashed in by Hu Wazi, his forehead covered in blood, yet he didn't seem to feel any pain. He just stared at us with wide eyes, chuckling incessantly, "Heh heh heh."

His appearance made it seem like he was possessed, giving us all the creeps.

Old Wei couldn't help but say loudly, "Buddy, are you crazy? What time is it? Why are you still laughing? Can you calm down first?"

Old Wei tried being reasonable, but Hu Wazi went for the hard approach, pointing his baton at him, threatening, "You laugh again? You laugh again and I'll beat you to death, you hear?"

But the rat didn't respond to either approach, his eyes fixed on Hu Wazi, chuckling three more times, "Heh heh heh."

Hu Wazi instantly flew into a rage, bringing the baton down on the rat's head.

"Damn it! I offered you a toast, but you want a beating instead!"

As a result, this blow seemed to enrage the rat. He suddenly "Awooo"-ed and pounced on Hu Wazi like a madman, opening his drooling mouth to bite him.

Hu Wazi was quick on his feet, raising his foot and delivering a kick to the rat's small belly, knocking him to the ground. He cursed, "Screw you! You want to bite your daddy? Go to hell!"

After being kicked over by Hu Wazi, the person was still not convinced. He howled and tried to get up. At this time, the Xiaoling Guards swarmed forward and cuffed him to the nearby boat coffin with silver bracelets. Even like this, he was not obedient. One moment he howled strangely at Hu Wazi, and the next he chuckled, "Heh heh heh."

Afterwards, Hu Wazi led Yun Jie and Er Jun to pry open the other two boat coffins, and the rats that crawled out were the same.

They seemed to have lost their minds, only knowing to chuckle stupidly, "Heh heh heh."

If they were pushed too far, they would bared their teeth and claws and pounce to bite people. This appearance was really scary, exactly like being possessed.

Old Wei said with a solemn expression, "I really think there's a curse in the Qu Shang Ancient City tomb. Look at the way these rats are now, isn't this being cursed?"

Yun Jie immediately nodded and said, "Of course! The way I see it, they start by going crazy and laughing stupidly, 'Heh heh heh.' After a while, they'll turn into stone statues kneeling on the ground!"

Xiao Liang was not so superstitious. She tried to explain the problem from a scientific point of view, suggesting, "Do you think they might have eaten something unclean, causing food poisoning? Producing some kind of hallucination? Their symptoms are actually the same as those of patients who have accidentally ingested hallucinogenic plants."

After listening, Old Wei immediately nodded and said, "That's very possible. After all, Liu Huangshu and his tomb robbers have been down here for four or five days. After such a long time, their dry food must have been eaten long ago. They will inevitably eat some wild food picked at random, which is very likely to cause their poisoning."

However, while everyone was discussing enthusiastically, I thought of a person, a person none of them had ever met.

That person was the Xiangxi corpse driver – Mr. Liao.

Back in the ancient Shu tomb in Duck River, Mei Shu and I had infiltrated Boss Wang's tomb raiding gang. At that time, we met a corpse driver, Mr. Liao.

Mr. Liao helped Boss Wang carry the remains of the ancient Shu king out of the tree trunk, but before he could leave the ancient tomb, Mr. Liao was possessed and went crazy.

And his symptoms after going crazy were almost exactly the same as those of these rats in front of us. They were all constantly laughing stupidly, unable to communicate with people normally, and would become violent and even beastly when attacked.

I didn't hide anything, but immediately told the truth.

I said, I had seen this situation before. They didn't become like this because they ate some poisonous food. Back in Duck River, someone in Boss Wang's tomb raiding gang had the same symptoms.

Old Wei and Xiao Liang quickly asked me for details, and I told them the whole story of Mr. Liao.

Xiao Liang immediately recalled it, nodding and saying, "I remember now, you did tell the story of that Xiangxi corpse driver."

Old Wei squinted his eyes and asked, "You mean to say that these people are indeed more like they are possessed? And it may be because they have been in contact with the remains of the ancient Shu king, so they have been possessed, right?"

I shook my head and said, "I can't say for sure why Mr. Liao was possessed back then, but what I can be sure of is that Mr. Liao didn't eat any wild food, so his possession has nothing to do with food poisoning."

After listening, Old Wei pinched his chin and thought for a while, then said, "Also, could it be that the old man who led us here knew long ago that these rats were hidden in the boat coffins? He deliberately led us here, wanting to borrow a knife to kill, using these rats to kill us, right?"

I nodded and said, "That's probably the case. That old bastard definitely wanted us to die. Even if this group of rats can't kill us, there's still a sealing stone outside. That old bastard is using double insurance to kill us..."

Old Wei glanced back at the several rats who had been subdued and said, "Time is tight. The most important thing for us now is to find a way to escape from here. As for why these rats have lost their minds, we'll investigate it slowly after we get out."

Hu Wazi clenched his fists and said, "Wouldn't everything be clear if we caught that old bastard and asked him after we get out? Let's find a way to escape first!"

While speaking, Xiao Liang had already started to take action. She walked around the inner and outer tomb chambers and quickly found a possible exit.

She pointed to the northwest corner of the outer tomb chamber and said, "Look, the ground in this tomb chamber is full of water. I just tried it, and it's at least a meter deep. I suspect that this tomb chamber has collapsed, causing groundwater to seep in. Since there's a collapse, maybe there's a gap below that can lead to the outside."

We followed Xiao Liang's guidance and went to see that there was indeed a deep pool of water in the northwest corner.

I reached out and tried it. The water was very cold and very turbid, but fortunately, it was a stagnant pool with no currents.

As soon as water was involved, Old Wei turned to look at me and said in a negotiating tone, "Xiao Chen, can I trouble you to look for it in the water to see if there is a gap leading to the outside, as Xiao Liang said."

Of course, I couldn't refuse, nodding and saying, "Don't worry, leave it to me."

After saying that, I unloaded my backpack and equipment, took off my cumbersome clothes, and plunged into the water.