Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa,Volume 6: Chapter 2: Green Tomb

That last monk answered cautiously: “Death is my king’s majesty. Life is my king’s grace.”

Upon hearing this, the Cham king laughed heartily. He threw down his knife and stopped the execution. He spared this ninth monk’s life. He also built a pagoda to bury the bones. Finally, he blinded the ninth monk, pierced his body with iron locks, and imprisoned him in the underground palace beneath the pagoda.

Sima Hui and the others listened, secretly clicking their tongues: “King Anu Jaya had such ruthless methods. Killing was like play. Presumably this person was fond of grand achievements, his conquests too heavy, his expenditures too luxurious. I’m afraid he himself would not come to any good end.”

They also all admired Yu Feiyan’s extensive knowledge and experience. They felt she indeed had some extraordinary aspects.

Yu Feiyan said: “Although I don’t know what secret is hidden in the underground ancient city of Savage Mountain, this mural is indeed the scene of the Cham king slaughtering monks and destroying Buddhism. Eight of the foreign monks were killed. Only one survived. So among the nine secret doors, there should only be one door of life. If one mistakenly triggers the mechanism, there might be trouble.”

Sima Hui was a person with schemes within schemes, extremely alert. Hearing Yu Feiyan speak of the deeds depicted on the mural, he understood her meaning. He searched in order. Sure enough, there was a cave where the statue was in the posture of a prisoner. But the statue was heavy, as if it had taken root underground. Without several hundred jin of strength, it couldn’t be moved. Nor did they know whether to turn or push. Sima Hui looked carefully again. He discovered that stone statue’s eyes were not damaged. He tried pressing them down. Who knew that with slight force, he felt the stone eyeballs sink inward. When he raised his hand, they returned to their original position. It turned out the stone statue was hollow inside. Clearly, it contained a mechanism. Then pressing both eyeballs simultaneously, they heard a rumbling sound. The wall beneath the Cham king’s painting split open with a crack. Behind it, a low and thick stone door was revealed.

Everyone discovered that the Cham king in the mural was high above. To enter the deepest part of the ancient city, one could only pass through the low and narrow stone door beneath his feet. And one had to bend the body and crouch like a cat to crawl in. In their hearts, they all secretly cursed, deliberately wanting to destroy the mural. But considering that the battery in the camping lamp could be exhausted at any moment, they had to find an exit before completely falling into darkness. Then they had no more leisure to care about other things. Who knew that the stone door was closed tightly. Perhaps it had not been opened for over a thousand years. The four used all their strength to push together, until their waists ached and arms went numb, before pushing open half a wall. The width was just enough for a person. Inside was pitch black. It seemed there was still considerable space.

Based on what everyone had seen and heard in the past, they truly couldn’t infer what kind of place this ancient city was. The countless reliefs and murals were all exquisite beyond compare. The craftsmanship’s proficiency, the imagination’s richness, the scale’s magnitude, the structure’s strangeness, all made people find it hard to believe. After a thousand years, it still stood firm underground. It fundamentally didn’t seem made by mortal hands. In their view, every stone here was filled with mysteries.

Yu Feiyan didn’t dare to rashly enter. She first used the camping lamp to shine inside for a while. But all was pitch black. What could she see? If the entire Golden Spider City was merely a passage, what would be the secret hidden by King Anu Jaya at the end of the passage? The silent darkness seemed to be filled with danger. Perhaps every step forward. Would bring one a step closer to death.

Just as everyone was concentrating their attention on the depths of the stone door, Sima Hui heard an extremely slight sound behind him. It was like something touching the calm water surface. He pretended not to notice. He stole a glance. At this time, having been in the underground environment for so long. His eyes had adapted to the darkness. Additionally, the accumulated water and mud contained phosphides. Occasionally, there would be weak ghost fires flickering. So even if it was pitch black, as long as there was no dense fog, without the help of light illumination, one could still faintly see the outlines of nearby objects. Sima Hui followed the sound and looked. He discovered behind a fallen stone statue, a figure was crouching. On its head was something round like half a melon skin. It was precisely that fifth survivor Qian Baoshan wearing the M1 steel helmet.

Sima Hui guessed that the other party couldn’t push open this stone door alone. So he led them into the tunnel. Now seeing the stone door open, he wanted to find an opportunity to quietly slip in. Qian Baoshan’s origins were unclear. He seemed deliberate yet coincidental, covering and concealing. Most suspicious was that he never dared to show his true face. His intentions were unfathomable. He was probably not a good person. The opportunity to capture this ghost was fleeting. Sima Hui naturally wouldn’t let it go. He made not a sound. Quietly withdrawing from the camping lamp’s illumination range. He climbed onto the broken wall. Circling around to approach Qian Baoshan’s hiding place.

Sima Hui’s movements were light and agile. In the darkness, he horizontally climbed the broken human faced stone wall. Bypassing the accumulated water in the tunnel. His movements were completely silent. Among the greenwood bandits before the Republic, there was a saying of four supreme skills. The four supremes respectively referred to scorpion climbing the city, Kui star kicking the dipper, eight step catching the toad, and Erlang carrying the mountain. Sima Hui was the true transmission of Scorpion Zhang. This skill of kicking off the boot was world shaking. It always occupied one of the four supremes. Especially famous for its strange postures and agile movements. That Qian Baoshan was hiding behind the stone statue, concentrating fully on peeping at the stone door. Suddenly sensing the situation was not good. He couldn’t help but be extremely shocked. Even more, he didn’t expect Sima Hui to come so fast. A light “ah” escaped from his mouth. He dodged backward.

Sima Hui wanted to catch the other party by surprise. Capture him and see what was going on. Now hearing the light “ah” from Qian Baoshan’s mouth. This sound, although slight and brief, to him was no different than a cannon firing in the night. Because this person’s voice was completely identical to the mysterious voice coming from the recorder when the expedition team discovered the earthquake bomb in the Mosquito special transport plane. That vocal cord like noise formed from electromagnetic interference appeared stiff and dry. It had long been deeply imprinted in Sima Hui’s brain. Now he could finally confirm that Qian Baoshan was Green Tomb with the mysterious identity.

Since hearing the recording in the cabin, Sima Hui had never been able to confirm whether this ghost like Green Tomb existed. Because he only heard its voice, never saw its form. In actions, he was inevitably constrained everywhere. He had no strategy. He could only suppress his anger. Until now, the truth was finally revealed. He thought of the nightmare like experiences since the expedition team entered the mountains. Karaweik and the Russian Cheglov died tragically. The remaining few people had all suffered severe chemical burns. All because of Green Tomb. He couldn’t help but feel a surge of killing intent. He could no longer restrain himself. He actually didn’t want to leave a living mouth. So taking advantage of his high position on the broken wall, he drew his gun and fired.

The bullets in Sima Hui’s gun had long been chambered. The moment the muzzle raised, a string of bullets whistled out. This kind of Soviet made automatic pistol was both a pistol and a submachine gun. It could fire in both automatic and single shot modes. But without the shoulder stock installed, the accuracy of continuous firing was difficult to guarantee. However, he was very close to Green Tomb. A barrage of bullets flying head on. At least two or three bullets would hit the target.

Green Tomb sensed that his tracks were exposed. He hurriedly dodged. But he was still half a step too late. That M1 steel helmet rolled off in his panic. Then he was hit by a bullet in the temple from the side. He fell to the ground on the spot.

Sima Hui feared the other party was not yet dead. He was about to add two more shots. But he suddenly felt a gust of foul wind attacking. It turned out that a crocodile lurking at the bottom of the tunnel had suddenly leaped up. Opening its bloody maw, it bit upward. He was only focused on killing Green Tomb. He didn’t guard against the crocodile hiding in the tunnel that had quietly approached. He had no time to dodge. He could only close his eyes and wait for death.

Luo Big Tongue and A Cui and Yu Feiyan, the three of them, didn’t expect Sima Hui to strike as soon as he spoke. By the time they reacted, in the flashing gunfire, they saw Qian Baoshan being shot down on the spot. At the same time, they saw a crocodile leaping up. These three people had quick eyes and fast hands. They fired together. They shot the leaping crocodile into a sieve. The dead crocodile fell heavily into the water. A Cui immediately threw down two white phosphorus grenades. The scorching fire and smoke blocked the other nearby crocodiles. Forcing them to retreat one after another.

Sima Hui was only focused on avoiding the crocodile. His hands and feet didn’t grip the indentations on the broken wall. He directly fell into the water. Fortunately, it was all mud. He didn’t smash his head into his chest cavity. A Cui and the others worried that after the white phosphorus burned out, more crocodiles would come. They hurriedly came forward to assist. They dragged Sima Hui up from the water.

The four people hadn’t even had time to speak when they saw a person crawling out from the rising thick smoke. Under the dazzling and blinding white light, that person’s physique was like a ghost. It was actually Green Tomb who had just been shot dead by Sima Hui. Even Sima Hui, who was calm in emergencies, couldn’t help but feel a chill run through his body: “Green Tomb was just killed by random gunfire. At least one bullet passed through the head. Brain matter was splattered out. How could he still crawl? Unless he is not a living person. But a stiff corpse cannot move or speak. And a ghost would not cast a shadow under the lamp…”

Sima Hui cursed with a stiff scalp: “If you don’t lie down and be a corpse, what are you crawling over for?”

The four people, relying on the weapons in their hands, raised their guns. The muzzles uniformly aimed at Green Tomb. They were about to pull the triggers when they saw the other party slowly raise his head. This time, everyone was using the burning white phosphorus firelight. Naturally, they saw face to face with complete clarity. Just this one look. It was like experiencing the most terrifying moment in their lives. They couldn’t stop their teeth from chattering. Even the fingers holding the trigger were frozen with fear.

The situation was that Sima Hui and the others were crouching in the tunnel. Using the blinding light of the white phosphorus bombs, they saw Green Tomb suddenly crawling out from the smoke. Although the distance was not very close, the M1 steel helmet on his head had fallen off. It happened to expose that deeply hidden face. Making everyone see it with utmost clarity. They saw that his eyes slightly protruded. The forehead top was unusually long. The earlobes were very wide. The lips were extremely thick. Illuminated by the burning phosphorus light into a ghastly white. Completely without human color. In the two gray eyes, there was not half the breath that a living person should have.

At this moment, Sima Hui had already confirmed this person was Green Tomb. Unexpectedly, after being shot through the brain with bullets, the corpse could still move. And no one had expected Green Tomb’s face to be like this. Could it be that the Cham king who had already died a thousand years ago… had crawled out from the mural or the coffin?

It was said that the Cham king Anu Jaya was born with strange features. He was called the Heavenly Bodhisattva by later generations. The general meaning was that the Cham king’s appearance was too different from ordinary people. It couldn’t be said to be ugly or hideous. At most, it was strange and bizarre. Like the statues of gods and buddhas in ancient religions. Those gods in murals and reliefs. Although they also had one nose and two eyes and nothing extra, to highlight the difference from vulgar commoners, the craftsmen would often add many exaggerated characteristics and temperaments when making them. If they suddenly became flesh and blood. Appearing alive before one’s eyes. Whoever saw it with a cold eye, even in broad daylight, would be scared half to death. Let alone in this dark and gloomy ancient city tunnel.

In the instant Sima Hui and the others saw Green Tomb’s face clearly, they felt as if a piece of glass in their hearts had been shattered. Their hands and feet also wouldn’t obey commands. Their scalps tingled like electricity. They only heard a strange gurgling sound from the throat of that ancient corpse. Dragging the fallen steel helmet, it quickly crawled toward the stone door.