Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa,Volume 6: Chapter 4: Exposed

Everyone simultaneously had a premonition: “Why would a thousand year old corpse that escaped from a coffin return to the Golden Spider City? The answer very likely lies in the darkness before our eyes.”

But here, even the faint light produced by phosphides did not exist. The environment was in a state of absolute darkness. Without the aid of illumination equipment, it was fundamentally impossible to see anything. Apart from the difficult to dispel oppression and tension, the emotions of fear and anxiety also continuously deepened in the darkness.

A Cui had once heard a very terrifying story. It was said that in a certain rural village, a person died unexpectedly. There was no time to prepare a coffin. The body was left in the threshing ground courtyard. A candle was lit beside the head as an eternal lamp. A white sheet was draped over the body. It was supported on several wooden benches. A hired idle man was employed to keep vigil through the night, waiting for the next day when the coffin would be finished and the body could be placed in it. That vigil man, to bolster his courage, drank half a jug of old wine. Unable to withstand the alcohol, he fell drunk. He vaguely heard the sound of dogs barking. Local custom most tabooed black dogs seeing corpses. He woke up with a start and looked. He saw a black dog gnawing on the dead person’s toes. At that time, dark clouds were densely covered. A thunderbolt struck down, hitting the corpse lying flat on the wooden bench. That dead person suddenly leaped up and crashed open the courtyard gate and ran away. The vigil man was so frightened that feces and urine flowed together. He quickly called for people to help. They went out searching in the rain. They searched all over the mountains and fields but found no trace. Until long afterward, a fur merchant from the village went on a long journey. Passing a place, he saw the escaped dead person from back then, limping and selling beef offal by the roadside. This place was no less than a thousand li from their hometown. That fur merchant thought this fellow villager hadn’t died back then. He went forward to chat. Speaking of the past incident of the corpse rising and fleeing at night, he asked how he had ended up here. This person suddenly fell to the ground. Instantly showing signs of corpse decay. Finally, the authorities were notified. He was cremated on the spot. The ashes were sent back to the hometown for burial. This matter was called “Soul Frightened a Thousand Li.” Because at the beginning of death, the residual vitality in the body had not yet dissipated. If encountering special circumstances, such as being struck by lightning, or being seen by a black dog, various strange transformations similar to corpse rising and soul returning would occur. During the day, speech and behavior were no different from living people. At night, the zombie true form would be revealed. And the mind would be lost. There would be no memory of past experiences. Only when an informed person revealed the cause of death could the departed soul be frightened away from the corpse.

Although A Cui, during her years in the Burmese Communist People’s Army, had not rarely seen things that were horrifying beyond description and shocking to the eye. But under the pressure of darkness, her spirit inevitably became extremely tense. Hearing Yu Feiyan speak of the Cham king’s ancient tomb being looted, the golden coffin disappearing in Hue, and having experienced the terrifying encounters in the tunnel before, she immediately recalled those rural legends heard during her rustication years. She couldn’t help but feel her gallbladder turn cold. A sense of powerlessness swept through her entire body. While trembling with fear, she nearly dropped the camping lamp she was assembling. She couldn’t help but ask Sima Hui: “Is that Green Tomb truly a zombie that escaped from the coffin?”

Sima Hui, however, believed that the situation everyone encountered was absolutely not as simple as A Cui said. If they didn’t find a way to get to the bottom of it, they could only wait for death in this darkness where they couldn’t see their own hands. He felt that the whereabouts of the Cham king’s golden coffin and skeleton were very likely the most crucial link in revealing the truth of the Savage Mountain incident. So he continued pressing Yu Feiyan: “From the destruction of the Cham king’s mausoleum until now, has anyone personally seen the skeleton placed inside the golden coffin?”

Yu Feiyan recalled: “My knowledge of this matter also comes only from hearsay. I don’t know if it’s true or false. It is said that when the golden coffin was looted, the several grave robbers who wanted to destroy the corpse all died tragically. So the golden coffin was re nailed shut. Until before it went missing during the Hue battle in Vietnam, it had always been sealed with extreme precision. No one dared to open it and peep at the Cham king’s skeleton inside.”

Hearing Yu Feiyan speak to this point, Sima Hui finally captured some clues. He analyzed for everyone: “I think that if we say the Cham king we just encountered before the stone door was an old coffin corpse that crawled out from an ancient tomb, this possibility is not great. Because that Green Tomb who hired the expedition team to search for the Mosquito transport plane. Although he knew the internal structure of the rift valley thoroughly, he didn’t understand the truth hidden in the ancient secret sign of pagoda and snake. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent people to pilot the Black Snake Mosquito special transport plane into the fog to die. Additionally, I see the Cham king images preserved on the reliefs and murals. Apart from the strange appearance, the physique was also very strange. The limbs were extraordinarily long. This differs greatly from the physique of that person wearing the steel helmet. If the body proportions in the painting are close to reality, then the Cham king and Green Tomb should not be the same person.”

Everyone in the darkness tried their utmost to suppress their nearly collapsing despair. Slowly, they calmed their minds. Carefully reviewing everything they had encountered in the Savage Mountain rift valley. Indeed, as Sima Hui said: Green Tomb clearly didn’t know where the true danger lay in the underground dense fog. But the mysteries surrounding this person were truly too many. What identity was hidden behind him? Green Tomb, as the head of an underground tycoon organization, controlling the largest arms trading organization in the Southeast Asia region, had no shortage of people willing to sell their lives for money on his behalf. Why did he need to personally risk danger and go deep into the Savage Mountain great rift valley? What was his true goal? Why, after being hit by bullets, did he not die on the spot? Had he already died long ago? Previously, in that Mosquito cabin loaded with the earthquake bomb, Green Tomb should have been hiding under everyone’s noses. Yet he never revealed his traces. How was this accomplished? Where did he hide after escaping into the stone door? This continuous chain of mysteries was complex and intertwined. Still impossible to answer.

Sima Hui inferred: “Behind most mysteries, they all point to the same clue. This clue is appearance. Perhaps the Cham king’s face… was taken by Green Tomb. I don’t know if Green Tomb is a true ghost. But his complexion, in its pallor, revealed an extremely deep corpse aura. In his eyes, there was not the slightest breath of a living person. It is said that only zombies sealed in coffins and buried for a thousand years would have such a complexion.”

Yu Feiyan sucked in a breath of cold air upon hearing this. She said in surprise: “You mean Green Tomb peeled the face from the dead corpse and put it on his own head? This is truly the first time I’ve heard of anyone daring to do such a thing.”

A Cui also felt her entire body turn cold upon hearing this: “Wh… why would he do this?”

Sima Hui said: “I know a bit of the superficial aspects of Golden Dot physiognomy. It’s merely from family transmitted teachings. But I can’t claim to be proficient. Because I always thought fortune and destiny are mysterious and difficult to fathom. How can ordinary people comprehend them? Whether speaking of fortune or misfortune, one cannot believe them completely. But I heard that this view recognizing that appearance can influence good and ill fortune has existed since ancient times. It exists to varying degrees in many ancient religions. But local customs differ. As for the strange concept of the Cham dynasty distinguishing noble and base by human appearance, based on what background it was produced, and what difference it has from the ancient physiognomy originating in China, I don’t know. I can only use the Golden Dot physiognomy I understand to observe the Cham king’s physical characteristics. I see this King Anu Jaya’s face is indeed strange. Having skin appearance but no bone appearance. Yet in ancient times, it was regarded as a heavenly being. What is the reason for this? Perhaps according to the concepts of that time, if a mortal had the appearance of gods and buddhas, that was the person closest to heaven. People who believe in fatalism mostly think that as long as one is born human, one is like a flying insect caught in a spider web. Until death, one cannot break free from the constraints of the web of fate. And the most direct reflection of fate is on the five facial features and complexion of the human face. According to ancient physiognomy, a mouth that can hold a fist, a forehead that can fit a horse, lips thick like pendants, eyes like fish and dragons, anyone with such temperament and spirit has an extraordinary appearance. But a thousand people have a thousand forms. Ten thousand people have ten thousand faces. Yet no one could ever gather these characteristics into a single face. Because that is the appearance of perfection. Ordinary people cannot possess such strong fortune. However, the Cham king’s face indeed possesses such strange features. Could there truly be hidden within it a power that can influence success and failure, even break free from the ‘spider web’?”

Sima Hui inferred that although the Cham king had been dead for nearly a thousand years, his bones long decayed. But this face had been preserved in the coffin until now. Green Tomb took the corpse’s face. This was equivalent to taking the Cham king’s “fortune.” Therefore, he dared to risk his body and enter the Savage Mountain great rift valley.

Luo Big Tongue listened for a while from the side. He thought this matter was far from that complicated. He also never believed in fate. He said to Sima Hui: “You’re also thinking too far left. Can fortune be taken? Is it square or round? Male or female? How much per jin? Who has seen it? We who are soldiers, if our heads are chopped off, we kick them like balls. Can we believe this?”

Yu Feiyan, however, particularly agreed with Sima Hui’s words: “Who doesn’t believe in fortune? People burn incense to pray to bodhisattvas, worship ancestors, supply house gods, wear protective talismans. What are they seeking if not fortune? Whenever doing a stick job, it has always been ‘ten parts preparation, nine parts adaptation, one part fortune.’ If lacking that one part fortune, no matter how fully prepared beforehand, no matter how outstanding one’s methods, in the end, success would still be difficult. As the saying goes, planning lies with man, success lies with heaven.”

Sima Hui said: “Your words are all reasonable. After all, fortune is too ethereal and intangible. I believe it must objectively exist. But one cannot pin all hopes on it.”

At this moment, A Cui said to Sima Hui again: “I heard locals say that near the border between Myanmar and Cambodia, there are often evil arts of casting curses and raising ghosts. They go deep into the mountains to dig up corpse bone jars. Then quietly carry them back home to nourish. This is used to transfer fortune. Called ‘carrying a ghost.’ So those people with good fortune have ghosts following them after death. Whatever they want comes to them. No one can touch them…”

Luo Big Tongue complained: “A Cui, my tolerance limit for madmen is two. If even you believe this stuff, I truly have no hope left.”

Sima Hui told Luo Big Tongue to first keep his cool. Compared to darkness that vision cannot penetrate, the blind zones existing in psychology are even more terrifying. If they don’t find a way to discover the answer, even if the surroundings were completely bright, it would still be difficult to escape from the Savage Mountain great rift valley surrounded by layers of dense fog.

Luo Big Tongue said: “Anyway, this feeling of being blind with open eyes is unpleasant. Can that camping lamp still be fixed? If there’s no hope, we should think of other ways sooner…”

As he spoke, he took out the white phosphorus grenade, wanting to use the incendiary agent inside for light. But in his panic, he accidentally dropped it on the ground. Before his eyes was pitch black. He couldn’t see anything. He had no choice but to reach out and fumble before him. Who knew that the moment he stretched his hand out, he touched a piece of cold flesh. Feeling more carefully, the outline and shape had a nose, eyes, and a mouth. But there was not half a breath entering or exiting. It was clearly a dead person’s head.

Luo Big Tongue secretly felt it was strange. When the camping lamp went out, everyone had stopped with their backs against the wall without moving. How did they not discover a corpse nearby at that time? Even if Green Tomb wore the face peeled from the Cham king’s corpse, there should still be some breath coming from the mouth and nose. But the tactile sensation from his fingertips was dark and silent. He couldn’t feel the slightest breath. This indicated that there was no life at all in the head behind that “face.” Only then did Luo Big Tongue react to this realization. Frightened, he hurriedly withdrew his hand. He immediately raised the large caliber elephant hunting gun held in his arms. In a panic, he went to pull the trigger.

At this moment, A Cui had already reassembled the camping lamp. She gently pushed the switch. The light emitting diode in the lamp body immediately flickered once. Everyone, using the weak and dim light, discovered a dark shadow appearing before them. It half raised its head. Its four limbs on the ground. The rigid facial contours were extremely strange. The ghastly white face skin had a dark and miserable expression. It was identical to the painted image the Cham king left on the mural. On the side of the skull was also a hole pierced by a bullet. It was precisely that Green Tomb who had impersonated the missing American soldier.

Sima Hui saw the camping lamp expose the quietly approaching Green Tomb before them. The traces of brain matter flowing from the bullet hole were clearly visible. His heart was also greatly shocked. He suddenly remembered what A Cui had just said about “carrying a ghost.” He couldn’t help but flash through a thought: “The head is the master of the four dimensions and eight vessels. Birds cannot fly without heads. People cannot walk without heads. Even if Green Tomb was once a living person, having his head shot through by a bullet, he would certainly die. He would no longer have any consciousness or thought. Unless the phenomenon controlling the corpse’s movements now is… borrowing a corpse to return to life!”