Chapter 19 Scaly Corpse

Under the gaze of the crowd, Shopkeeper Wang actually lunged directly at the remains of the tomb owner, tearing open his upper garment, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

I thought to myself, this boss has such heavy tastes, he's not even letting go of an ancestor from over four thousand years ago?

After he tore open the upper garment, the tomb owner's chest and shoulders were revealed. On his shoulders, chest, and back were growing those black scales that shimmered with a metallic luster, instead of normal skin.

Seeing this scene, the people present were all stunned, and a heated discussion broke out. They all said that this ancient Shu king was indeed no ordinary person, probably half-human, half-divine.

Shopkeeper Wang, however, seemed possessed, hugging the tomb owner's shoulders and repeating, "Xiao Er is saved! Xiao Er is saved!"

I was completely baffled. What did he mean, "Xiao Er is saved"?

But I didn't want to ask directly; I figured even if I did, Shopkeeper Wang wouldn't answer me.

At this moment, Hongjie, hiding behind me, asked curiously, "Rongsheng, what's going on? What are they all discussing? Why are they saying the ancient Shu king isn't an ordinary person? What did you see?"

I quickly replied, "This ancient Shu king has a strange appearance. Besides having bulging eyes, his body is also covered with scales."

"Scales? Like the scales of a fish?" Hongjie asked in disbelief.

Just as I was about to answer, Mr. Liao, who was squatting in front of the corpse, shook his head and said, "Not scales. It's a skin disease of the deceased. I don't know if he unfortunately contracted some kind of skin disease before his death, or if he was infected by some parasite inside the tree trunk after his death, which caused his skin to become like this..."

Hearing this, I suppressed my inner fear and boldly walked to the side of the remains, squatting down to observe carefully.

Those black "scales" were indeed not scales, but rather a mutation of human skin, becoming rougher and harder than before, producing a kind of keratinization, so at first glance it looked like a layer of scales had grown.

Thinking further, I suddenly recalled that Jiang Yongguang had said before that a large number of skin medicines and anti-inflammatory drugs had been found in the room where Xiao Wang, the shopkeeper, had locked up that "monster." Could it be that the "monster" had bought these medicines to treat this skin disease?

Just as I was pondering, Uncle Mei suddenly walked over and whispered in my ear, "Rongsheng, the monster you saw in the villa before, did it look like this?"

I immediately nodded and said, "That's right! Exactly the same as this ancient Shu king. But the only difference is that the one in the villa is alive!"

Hearing this, Uncle Mei's face changed dramatically, and he lowered his voice and said, "Goodness, could it really be that the tomb owner of the Tuojiang ancient Shu tomb has come back to life? Was the one we saw that night him crawling out of his coffin?"

After being told this by Uncle Mei, I had the same thought, but this was really too fantastical, even more fantastical than the ghost movies I had watched. My reason told me that the truth was definitely not like this.

Just then, Hongjie came over and asked, "What are you whispering about? What do you mean by coming back to life and crawling out of a coffin?"

I quickly covered it up and said, "Oh, we were talking about the burial method of this ancient Shu king. He put his remains in a tree trunk. Could it be to come back to life, ascend to immortality, and crawl out of the tree trunk again."

Hongjie smiled and shook her head, saying, "Obviously not. If he really had this ability, would we have been able to dig him out? I think that being buried in a tree can lead to ascension to immortality is just a lie."

As she was speaking, the other grave robbers surrounded them, subconsciously wanting to search the tomb owner's remains for treasures.

According to the common sense of grave robbing, the remains of the tomb owner often carry a large number of treasures. In addition to the various accessories on the body, the openings of the corpse are often stuffed with high-quality gems, jade, pearls, etc., in order to keep the corpse from rotting.

But as soon as he saw the grave robbers trying to step forward and rummage through the "rou zong" (mummified corpse), Shopkeeper Wang immediately scolded, "Get out! Don't you dare to touch this 'rou zong'! Without my permission, no one is allowed to rummage through the 'rou zong', understand?"

How dare the grave robbers disobey the boss's orders? They quickly retreated and said repeatedly, "Understood, understood."

Shopkeeper Wang examined the tomb owner's corpse again, then helped him put his clothes back on, picked up the belt on the ground, put it in his backpack, and said to Mr. Liao, "Mr. Liao, please take this ancient Shu king out of the tomb."

Mr. Liao nodded in agreement, and then began to operate. He used two bamboo poles to support the corpse's arms, tied them firmly with hemp rope, and then tied another hemp rope around the remains' waist, with the other end tied to his own waist, and then attached a few bells below the hemp rope.

Uncle Mei and I watched intently from the side, as if watching a craftsman with generations of inheritance making handicrafts, as if Mr. Liao was not manipulating a thousand-year-old remains, but was making paper figures or crafting a work of art.

Shopkeeper Wang also watched with fascination, praising him from time to time.

After about half an hour, Mr. Liao finished his work. At this time, he stood up from the ground, supporting the two bamboo poles, and moved his arms. The ancient Shu king, tied to the other end of the bamboo poles, actually stood up as if he were alive.

This immediately aroused cheers from the audience, and everyone couldn't help but applaud, as if they were watching a great show!

Even Hongjie, who had been afraid of corpses all along, couldn't help but take a look, and then exclaimed, "Goodness! So this is the famous Xiangxi corpse driving! It really opened my eyes. This is too awesome!" (Xiangxi gaishi: a type of Chinese folk magic where corpses are guided by a Taoist priest to be transported back to their hometown for burial)

The remains, in Mr. Liao's hands, were like a puppet. Mr. Liao made him go east, and he went east; he made him go west, and he went west.

At this time, Mr. Liao turned his head and said to Shopkeeper Wang, "Shopkeeper Wang, now that we have invited the tomb owner, should we go out?"

Shopkeeper Wang nodded and said, "It's time to retreat as soon as possible, otherwise the authorities might come looking for us."

But at this moment, a brother whispered a reminder: "Boss, the ancient Shu jade slip hasn't been obtained yet. If we leave so rashly, how will we explain it to Master Gao?"

Hearing this, Shopkeeper Wang's face immediately clouded over.

"Damn it! I almost forgot if you didn't mention it. The last ancient Shu tomb was only half swept when that idiot Professor Xu broke through the waterproof wall, which almost cost me my life! The ancient Shu jade slip was also ruined! This tomb was just one step away, but that white-clothed fairy took it first... Am I destined not to get this jade slip?"

Hongjie quickly comforted him, "Boss, don't be discouraged. Isn't there a grave robbers' hole dug out by that white-clothed fairy above the tree? Why don't we chase up and see if we can get something out of it?"

Shopkeeper Wang thought it made sense and nodded, saying, "Yes, if we return the same way, we'll have to cross the river, and I don't want to deal with this group of piranhas. We don't have any ready-made bait either. Now it seems that we can only drill out from the grave robbers' hole above, which will also allow us to investigate the whereabouts of the white-clothed fairy!"