Chapter Fifteen: The Hive Burial

Just as I was about to be choked to death—

“Bang!”

I suddenly felt a heavy blow to the back of my head. Darkness blurred my vision, nausea surged up from my stomach, and the pressure on my neck vanished abruptly.

In mere seconds, the scene before me shifted rapidly.

I was still inside the coffin chamber—no tunnels, no rubble, no strange flower-necked immortal...

Opposite me sat Fat Dong. He was clutching his neck, coughing violently, his expression pained.

Beside him were Xu Qingguo and Wu Ping.

Xu Qingguo held a medicine jar, her face full of concern as she asked, “How are you both feeling?”

This sudden change left me utterly confused.

What was real?

What was illusion?

Rubbing my aching neck, I watched Xu Qingguo warily and shifted back a couple of steps, remaining silent.

Xu Qingguo smiled knowingly, curled her lips, and pointed at Wu Ping.

“If it weren’t for Wu Ping’s timely intervention, you two almost strangled each other!”

Fat Dong stopped coughing, his plump face twitching.

“That can’t be right! I remember the foreign woman saying I was too handsome and forcibly dragged me out of the stone coffin, insisting on a tryst. When I refused to pay, I fought her to the death. How did that turn into me struggling with Xiao Meng?”

Xu Qingguo’s pretty face was dumbfounded. She turned to Wu Ping and said, “Explain it to them.”

After Wu Ping’s explanation, I finally understood what had happened.

The sudden swarm of bees pouring out from the stone coffin was not only extremely venomous but also had strong hallucinogenic effects.

After being attacked, everyone went mad.

Wu Ping smashed the stone fiercely with his fists.

Fat Dong and I were initially terrified and ran around wildly, then began fighting each other, rolling on the ground, choking one another.

Xu Qingguo, trained in medicine, immediately recognized the toxic and hallucinogenic effects of the bees. She took an antidote herself first, then quickly lit a repellent powder she had prepared, driving the swarm away.

Seeing Fat Dong and me in the worst condition, she initially tried to save us but couldn’t pry us apart.

Desperate, she forced the antidote into Wu Ping’s mouth while he was still smashing the stone.

Once Wu Ping regained clarity, he kicked both of us hard, separating us.

Xu Qingguo then administered the antidote to us.

Only then did we regain full consciousness.

I was still shaken.

No wonder the bottom of the stone coffin was riddled with holes about the size of chopstick tips—they were designed specifically for the bees’ entry and exit. The bee swarm was clearly the final anti-theft defense of this foreigner’s tomb.

If not for having a traditional Chinese medicine expert like Xu Qingguo on the team, we probably would have already gone to play mahjong with the King of Hell!

I asked, “What about the foreign woman? Any signs from her?”

At the mention of the foreigner, Xu Qingguo’s lovely face grew fearful and uneasy. She glanced at the stone coffin and swallowed nervously.

“It was too chaotic just now. I didn’t pay attention. She should... be still.”

Fat Dong rubbed his still swollen arm, gritting his teeth.

“Who cares if she’s moving or not! That foreigner’s messing with us with this nonsense. I’m really pissed off now—I can’t hold back the urge to smash her little butt!”

Tightening his worn erhu, he crumpled a Taoist talisman, flipped nimbly, and strode toward the stone coffin.

We exchanged a glance.

A silent agreement.

No one wanted to give up just yet.

I quickly stood and approached the stone coffin.

Wu Ping followed closely, protecting Xu Qingguo.

There was no unusual sign from the coffin. The foreigner from Hushan lay with a Taoist talisman stuck on her forehead, still looking like a peaceful beauty in deep sleep.

Fat Dong bent over, rummaging around, cursing under his breath.

“Damn it! Did Song Dynasty commoners not pay for medical care? Why so plain? No burial items at all!”

I shone my flashlight, examining carefully, utterly astonished.

“Bee burial!”

Xu Qingguo’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“What’s bee burial?”

Bee burial is an extraordinary and rare burial method.

The coffin is pre-stocked with a large number of special bee species. After death, the corpse is coated with substances that attract bees, triggering the swarm to secrete massive amounts of honey and beeswax. The beeswax instantly encapsulates the corpse, isolating it from air and resisting oxidation.

As time passes, the beeswax repeatedly solidifies and partially melts, ultimately forming a hard, transparent amber-like layer at the base, while the outer layer maintains a microcirculatory dynamic, achieving permanent preservation of the corpse and deterring grave robbers.

However, the technique is highly complex and rarely used.

After hearing my explanation, everyone was amazed.

Xu Qingguo’s expression turned a bit silly and cute as she lightly licked her lips.

“No wonder... the foreigner’s kiss earlier was sticky and sweet.”

Fat Dong found no burial items and looked displeased. He raised a hand, about to lift the talisman off the foreigner’s forehead.

Wu Ping grabbed his hand immediately.

“What are you doing?!”

Fat Dong replied, “I’m telling her to get up and pee, see where the burial items are!”

This guy was truly a bit crazy.

Xu Qingguo’s face changed color.

“Master Dong, don’t mess around!”

I sneered coldly.

“Let him do it! If she can still jump up, I’ll change my last name to Dong.”

Fat Dong scoffed with disdain upon hearing this.

“Don’t scare me!”

He raised his hand to peel off the talisman.

Wu Ping quickly shielded Xu Qingguo and stepped back.

The corpse didn’t twitch at all, still sleeping peacefully.

Fat Dong’s eyes widened like gongs. Scratching his head, he muttered something in dialect.

“Damn it! Could it be that the Taoist priest just now scared her soul to pieces...?”

“Shouldn’t be. It’s just a simple sealing talisman.”

I pointed to a thin iron hook inside the coffin lid.

“This thin iron hook catches the partition under the corpse. When the coffin lid is lifted, the mechanism activates, pulling the corpse up, making it look like a resurrection. The foreigner’s purpose was to startle intruders unprepared. At the same time, the partition springs up with the corpse, releasing the massive bee nest beneath, unleashing the bee swarm to attack and kill.”

“A clever mechanism, nothing supernatural.”

Fat Dong eyed the partition skeptically, shining his flashlight several times.

Finding no flaw in my deduction, he nodded in acceptance.

But instead of feeling embarrassed, he laughed and patted my shoulder.

“Xiao Meng, you win! But you know why there’s been no paranormal activity so far?”

“Why?”

“Because the Taoist priest’s arrival scared all ghosts and monsters away! Ha, the Taoist priest is that awesome!”

“...”

I ignored the shameless fat guy and lightly wiped the dust off the inner wall of the coffin.

“There are inscriptions!”

The inner coffin wall was carved with countless tiny, neat characters in a long passage.

Medical texts?!

Xu Qingguo hurried over and glanced quickly. Her cheeks flushed, eyelashes fluttered, and her breath quickened.

“Oh my God! Meng Xun, you’re amazing!”

She instructed Wu Ping to clean the coffin wall while she took out her camera and began taking photos frantically.

I exhaled deeply.

Xu Qingguo’s purpose in coming to the Hushan foreigner’s tomb was to find medical scriptures.

Now my task was complete, and my sister-in-law’s legs could be saved.

Only Fat Dong, wholly focused on finding antiques, ended up empty-handed and bored. He sat on the ground, smoking to pass the time, looking utterly dejected.

About ten minutes later, after Xu Qingguo finished photographing, she knelt reverently and bowed several times to the foreigner.

“Wu Ping, restore the coffin lid!”

Wu Ping immediately pushed the lid back in place.

Although the bees had been driven away by the medicine just now, once we left, they would surely return to the coffin, and the foreigner would continue her peaceful sleep.

Unless life was at stake, the corpse would never be disturbed.

This had been the principle agreed upon before we arrived.

I still felt uneasy about the strange hands that had dragged everyone down earlier. Now that it was over, I gave instructions.

“No lingering. Exit the tomb!”

Everyone packed up and swiftly returned to the ancient house, covered the stone platform with slabs, carried the wooden ladder out of the water pool, and placed it against the tunnel entrance where someone had fallen before.

After climbing up, they dismantled the ladder, returned to the large water pool at the mountaintop, and disguised the broken tomb entrance again.

The whole process went smoothly.

But when we reached the karst cave at the foot of the Ginseng Mountain, Fat Dong suddenly stopped, refusing to move.

I frowned and asked, “What’s wrong this time?”

He bent down and picked up something.

“Who smoked this?”

We all glanced at it, exchanging puzzled looks.

An empty cigarette pack—Red Pagoda Mountain 1956.

None of us smoked that brand.

Someone was following us?!