Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 143 Mermaid Head

"Since that's the case, let's light them then, just to put our minds at ease!" As soon as Hu Ming finished speaking, the fat man took out three candles from his bag and lit them one by one in the corner of the tomb.

The candle is burning normally...

"Alright, let's open the coffin!"

At that moment, just as the lid of the golden coffin was opened a crack, a gust of black smoke rushed out.

Fortunately, they had put on their gas masks and hadn't taken them off yet.

Amidst a plume of black smoke, after waiting for quite some time, there was still no movement from the corpse inside the coffin.

Hu Ming lifted the coffin lid and saw that inside the golden coffin lay a headless corpse!
After the black mist dissipated, Hu Ming finally saw the corpse inside clearly. The clothes he was wearing were no longer recognizable as to what era they belonged to.

The rotten flesh clung to the blackened corpse inside the coffin.

"Where...where is the boss?"

Before he could even check if there was a Muchen Pearl in the coffin, Hu Bayi paused, then slowly asked.

"Did he get stabbed?"

Yang Xueli pointed to the wooden coffin next to her and said, "Could the head be in that coffin next to us?"

"That's really hard to say."

"Why don't we just go all the way and open them all!" the fat man said, and started to open the wooden coffin on the ground as well.

But Hu Ming stopped him.

"Wait a minute!"

"What's wrong, Akiko?"

At this moment, Hu Ming pointed to the wooden coffin on the ground and said.

"The patterns on this coffin are all phoenixes or birds, so it's obvious that a woman's corpse is inside!"

"A female corpse is very likely to turn into a zombie after the coffin is opened!" However, at this moment, Yang Xueli did not listen to their conversation at all, but instead reached out and searched for the Muchen Pearl under the corpse in the golden coffin.

"No! How could there not be!"

"It seems the Muchen Pearl isn't here!"

Yang Xueli didn't believe it, but alas, besides the headless, pitch-black corpse, there was nothing else in the golden coffin! Realizing this, Yang Xueli was slightly lost in thought, muttering softly, "How could this be? If it's not here, then we'll never find it?"

The fat man glanced at Yang Xueli and stepped forward to persuade her, "Hey, Staff Officer Yang, don't be too discouraged! If it doesn't work this time, there's always next time! You've at least tried once, or maybe I'll give you some of the artifacts later?"

Yang Xueli had no interest in those funerary objects at all. She glanced at the fat man but didn't say anything, her mind preoccupied with what to do next.

Hu Bayi glanced at Yang Xueli, sighed, and said nothing.

Hu Ming, of course, would not let such a good opportunity slip by.

Now that the body of the King of Xian is right before his eyes, only his head is missing, there must be something wrong here, he must find it!
At this moment, the flares in the corner had gradually lost their light, and the tomb chamber gradually darkened.

As the surrounding light dimmed, the flames from the candles the fat man had lit became particularly conspicuous.

"Fatty... how many candles did you light just now?" Yang Xueli's voice suddenly rang out at this moment.

For some reason, Yang Xueli's voice trembled slightly, as if she had seen something terrible.

The fat man was still unaware of what had happened and found Yang Xueli's question somewhat inexplicable.

"You ordered three, what's wrong?"

At this moment, the candlelight in the corner was still on, not a single one had gone out, but Yang Xueli slowly raised her hand and pointed in a direction in the tomb chamber.

"But what is that?"

Hu Bayi looked over and saw that in the dark tomb chamber, besides the fat man's three candles, there was also a row of will-o'-the-wisps emitting a ghostly blue light along the wall. "...When did these lights come on..."

The fat man opened his mouth wide in disbelief and exclaimed in surprise.

This fire was not like the dim yellow light emitted by a candle; it was a dark blue, and not bright at all.

Therefore, under Yang Xueli's flare, no one saw the eerie blue light at all. As for when it was ignited, no one noticed.

"This color..."

"Could that be a will-o'-the-wisp?!"

Looking at the dark blue, the fat man couldn't help but think of the legendary will-o'-the-wisps, and said with some doubt.

At this moment, Hu Bayi turned on the searchlight in his hand and walked towards the ghost fire without hesitation. In his opinion, these things were nothing more than tricks played by the Prince of Xian to create a mystery.

Hu Ming stopped three or four meters away from the blue light, the searchlight illuminating the way ahead.

What was embedded in the wall was a face, but it wasn't human.

It was a face covered in scales. A gaping maw was wide open, revealing terrifying fangs.

The will-o'-the-wisp was burning inside the mouth of this human face. The mouth had no lips, only two rows of teeth, shaped like shark teeth, sharp and pointed.

Upon seeing the strange face, the fat man exclaimed, "What kind of animal does this look like?"

"It has scales, could it be some kind of fish?"

"Or... what kind of evil spirit?" Hu Ming continued to move closer, looking at the face on the wall. He felt that it didn't seem to be carved on, but rather as if it was sealed on the wall.

Looking at the creature's face, it was covered with something that looked like fish scales.

Hu Ming thought about it and roughly knew what it was.

"It's not a demon, it must be a merman!"

"Mermaids?"

"Yes, Blackscale Merfolk."

Yang Xueli had never seen this before.

The fat man had never seen such a thing before, let alone heard of it. A black-scaled merman? What was that? He had only ever heard of mermaids!
Hu Bayi stroked his chin and said, "I never thought I'd see something like this. I've only ever seen things like this in books. I don't know if it's the same thing as the mermaid Fatty was talking about!"

"And this one has black scales, which is even rarer!"

Hu Ming nodded, then reached out and lifted the merman's chin to examine it. He then said, "It has gills on its neck, and its entire body, except for the area around its belly, is covered in black scales."

"By the way, their bodies look like they've been treated with special methods; they're still chained up. It seems they were made into lanterns!"

As he said this, Hu Ming deliberately turned around and glanced at the fat man.

"Fatty, you're really lucky!"

"Just what I wished for has come true! This is the ever-burning lamp you've been longing for!"

"So, how about taking one back with you?"

The fat man glanced at the shriveled merman on the wall, which looked like it had been made into dried fish, and felt disgusted. He quickly waved his hand.

The fat man said, "Damn it, Mingzi, why are you copying Old Hu too! I don't want it, this thing looks too disgusting, let's keep it for the Prince of Xian himself!"

However, Yang Xueli, who was standing to the side, was seeing such a thing for the first time. She was very curious after hearing Qin Yu say that this was the legendary ever-burning lamp.

"The eternal lamp is made from these merfolk? Can it really burn for a thousand years without going out?"

"Yes, this is the first time I've ever seen this thing either," Hu Bayi said, holding her hand.

(End of this chapter)