In the mural, an unclothed child sat amid countless thin black lines. They appeared to be three or four, and they had black hair and black eyes. The way they sat kept their genitalia covered. They radiated bright light with a pure smile on their face.
Although the paint used for the mural was dark and desaturated, the end product looked unusually holy.
Gao Yang noticed that the black lines hadn’t touched the kid, but instead shied away from them and spread to other directions, extending to the third side of the obelisk.
By then, the others had all gotten drawn by what was depicted by the murals, and they moved left around the obelisk together.
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Amid the strange black lines was another three or four years old child crawling on the ground. Their sex was still impossible to determine. Unlike the first child, they had silver hair and red eyes, the corners of their mouth downturned, looking sad and dejected.
The black lines didn’t grapple the child, but one line did pierce through their heart like a needle.
“Spectre,” Qing Ling identified. The silver hair and red eyes were too identifiable.
“Forlorn Ghost.” Lithe Snake spoke their full name.
“Yeah, must be one.” War Tiger concluded the same thing. “Edmond said that life monsters can give birth to three different creatures, which must be what are depicted by the obelisk.”
“Aren’t Spectres born with curses?” Gray Bear noticed the line. “Is the black line piercing them the curse?”
Nine Frost nodded. “Seems so.”
Gao Yang’s heart pounded, his face pale. He had to quietly use Psychic Armor to calm himself down.
He continued forward, finally getting to the fourth side of the obelisk, the final mural.
It also depicted a crawling child at three or four whose sex couldn’t be told, but the child wasn’t a normal creature, but a shape consisting of the black lines—or they could be said to be the black lines themselves.
Their face, formed by black lines, had only a pair of empty white eyes and a mouth. It was abstract, yet Gao Yang could sense their fury, madness, hatred, and malice.
Gao Yang’s heart quickened, and the blood in his body cooled.
“Gao Yang?” Qing Ling called out to him. He jerked out of his thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” she asked with a frown.
Gao Yang shook his head and smiled faintly. “Nothing. I just lost myself in it for a moment.”
“The child looks different from the other two.” Gray Bear frowned.
“Looks evil,” said Lithe Snake.
Nine Frost was also unnerved. “Like the devil.”
War Tiger made a thoughtful sound. “Everyone, my guess is that the corpse of a life monster is left inside the stone coffin, a life monster in human form.”
They exchanged a look and agreed with the guess to a certain extent.
“Fellows.” War Tiger smirked. “Uncle Tiger has a tentative proposal.”
“Don’t tell me you want to open the coffin?” Gray Bear had a bad feeling about this.
“I do.” War Tiger turned to the others. “Who’s with me, and who’s against it?”
Qing Ling and Lithe Snake didn’t seem to care. 𝒻𝓇ℯ𝘦𝘸𝑒𝑏𝓃𝑜𝓿𝘦𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓶
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Nine Frost nodded. “There’s no other path here. It’s a gamble we have to make.”
Gao Yang seemed bemused, and he didn’t say no.
“Wait, you...really are gonna open the coffin?” Gray Bear couldn’t believe it. He was known for his recklessness, but it turned out his companions were more reckless than he was! Was there any normal guy on the team?
“Majority rules.” War Tiger smiled at Gray Bear. “If you will, my friend.”
Gray Bear paused and pointed at his own nose. “I’m doing it?”
“You’re the strongest among us.” War Tiger drew the long sword on his back and looked at the sarcophagus. “I can do it too, but my way would be a little violent, perhaps disrespectful to the dead. If I trigger some trap, I can’t do anything about it.”
“Don’t!” Gray Bear stopped him. “Allow me. Lithe Snake, Nine Frost, cover me...”
Gray Bear turned around. Lithe Snake and NIne Frost took about ten steps back to stand behind War Tiger.
“Captain, cover...”
Gao Yang grabbed Qing Ling’s hand and teleported to a safe distance.
They all looked at Gray Bear like he was the man for the job.
Gray Bear swallowed a curse. Yes, I can take a beating better, and I’ve taken a resurrection pill, but aren’t you being way too shameless now?!
“Hah!”
Gray Bear shouted, transforming instantly into a giant bear covered in gray hair, his powerful muscles breaking his shirt. With a light tug, the shirt broke into pieces like plastic wrap.
Topless, he went up to the sarcophagus under the obelisk and observed it for a few seconds. There was a relief carved into the lid, depicting a beautiful empress dressed expensively with all sorts of jewelry. With her hands pressed together before her chest, she looked dignified and at peace.
He moved to the side of the sarcophagus and placed his hands on the heavy lid, giving it a strong push.
Clack, clack, clack.
The lid moved to the side like the hour hand of the clock moving from twelve to one. Through the small gap that was created, they could only see darkness.
Gray Bear backed away as soon as he moved the lid. He had seen his fair share of tomb raiding movies, and he was worried that lethal gas could be released from the coffin, or perhaps a swarm of countless flesh-eating beetles.
But there was nothing.
Gray Bear waited more than ten seconds before he relaxed. Then he moved up again and crouched down, holding onto the bottom of the coffin lid, his arm muscles bulging dramatically.
“Hahhh!”
He lifted the black coffin lid, which weighed a few tons, and moved back to place it on the side.
Bam! The lid dropped to the ground, bringing up dust, the sound of impact echoing around the court.
With firelight illuminating the inside of the coffin, they finally had a clear look of what was inside: a female mummy whose arms were crossed before her chest. In contrast to her slim body, her abdomen protruded unnaturally.
Gao Yang had seen pictures of mummies on the internet. The bandages wrapping around their bodies always looked dirty, significantly decayed, yet this mummy looked new, untouched by time.
The white bandages were pristine white, even glowing faintly in a sacred way. On the bandages were lines of black ancient sigils.
Gao Yang’s face paled instantly. He noticed that the black sigils were moving like countless black worms.
“Gray Bear! Come back here!”
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