Chapter 10: Black-Haired Lacquered Coffin

Chapter 10: Black-Haired Lacquered Coffin

At the same time, Zhang Qishan was also thinking about the ins and outs of this matter, his mood even more complicated. His gut told him that there definitely wasnt anything simple about it, especially considering that the Japanese were fast approaching.

During the time that Qi Tiezui was resting, all the coffins and bodies on the train had been unloaded. The coffins were placed in the Zhang familys warehouse, while the bodies were sent to the military hospital. Lieutenant Zhang was the one who had arranged everything in the half hour Qi Tiezui had been asleep. Now that things were running smoothly, Zhang Qishan couldnt help but feel at ease.

Since he had drifted all the way from the northeast, he was afraid things would have been more difficult to handle if he didnt have these people around to help him. Whether it was fortunate or not to be born into the Zhang family, it was all due to this surname.

When he had put his hand into the coffin at that time and found that the corpse was lying face down, he twisted its head and reached in. He found that thirty-seven fine steel needles had been placed inside the corpses throat.

The two-fingered probing technique involved taking out the burial jewels from the corpses mouth as quickly as possible so as to avoid being bitten in case the corpse changed into a zombie. The substance placed on these needles in the corpses throat were generally highly toxic, which was why it was considered a special anti-theft measure.

This corpse may have shown signs of transforming in its early years, but now it had dried up. After the young soldier touched the corpse, he must have hooked his finger into the corpse's mouth and felt something. He was so nervous that he mistook these steel needles as black hairs growing out of the corpse and got poisoned. But the soldier wouldn't admit it, and said there was something moving in the corpses throat that had bitten him.

Few tomb owners were so afraid of others stealing the ancient jade from their mouths that they would resort to setting up steel needles in their throatsit was too cruel and blasphemous to the corpse. If anything, it was more likely that the fine steel needles were to prevent something from crawling out of their esophagus, which was why the young soldiers words had Zhang Qishan a little concerned.

Zhang Qishan pressed his three fingers against the steel needle, while the other two fingers went deep into the corpses throat. He felt the shell fragment, which was caught on one of the needles inside, but didnt feel what the young soldier said had bitten him. He did feel that something was strange, however, so he broke the corpses jaw, snapped its neck, and waited for the coffin to be opened so he could see what had happened. The only clue now was this scale-shell fragment.

In ancient times, there was a difference between scales and shells. If one side was thin and the other was thick, then it was a scale. If the piece was the thickest in the middle, and the outer edges were slightly thin, then it was a shell. This particular fragment was slightly thicker in the middle and on one side, while the other side was slightly thinner. It also had a strange fishy odor. The fragment was black and white, and had a pattern on it that looked like the inscriptions on oracle bones. The characters were so faded, however, that the meaning couldnt be distinguished. The doubts in his heart kept increasing. What surprised him the most was that although this scale-shell had dried up, it seemed to be new and not like a fossil at all.

As he was pondering over it, Qi Tiezui came up and quietly stood behind him. He had been bothering this guy all day, but he had no other choice given the situation. There were only a handful of people in the Nine Gates who could help him, after all. Old Ba had a meek temperament and was quick-witted, so Zhang Qishan could only continue to bug him.

Lieutenant beckoned for those holding the gas lamps nearby to place them around the coffin so that the inside would be illuminated. As he looked at the lines on the old coffin, Qi Tiezui roughly determined that it must have come from the Northern and Southern Dynasties. There were two portraits of human figures on the coffin, and he could see that one had an animal face while the other had a human face. These vivid decorations were common to the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Judging from the size of the outer coffin, this person must have been a high-ranking official or a noble. There had been ongoing years of war and chaos at that time, so this kind of extravagant burial system meant they must have had a high status. Since all the clothes were rotten, however, it was impossible to determine the details.

Since the whistle hole had been created, the inside of the coffin was very dry. Qi Tiezui leaned forward and noticed that the inside was full of the same kind of cobwebs they had seen on the train. They were covering the body and funerary objects in the coffin like a quilt.

Zhang Qishan and Qi Tiezui glanced at each other. Then, Zhang Qishan took one of the soldiers rifles and picked up the cobwebs. There were black and dry asphalt-like stains hidden underneath all the cobwebs, which must have come from the mummified corpse, quilts, silks, and other decayed things. The mummy was wrapped in these stains and lying face down. The angle of its head was very unnatural, which must have occurred when Zhang Qishan forcibly twisted it and shattered its jaw. The corpses expression looked very ferocious without its jaw. They could see that the corpse was tall and covered in a thin layer of black hair.

The soldiers were used to taking out the funerary objects, but Zhang Qishan looked at them coldly and said, "Don't move anything. Lets see what's in its throat first."

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TN Notes:

(1) Also known as the Nine Halls Diagram. It played a role in ancient Chinese mathematical and divinatory traditions. Its basically a three-by-three box which each box representing a direction. Inside the box there is a specific number which represents certain attributes. And there are also Elements (earth, fire, water, wood, metal). Heres the Wikipedia article, but I felt like this one was easier to understand lol

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Tiffany's extra (hope you got your history britches on):

Wu Xies Private Notes: Chapter 32 Ancient Countries In Shandong