I squatted down and looked closely at the hand.
Although Old Bachelor Grandpa's hands were also gone, I was certain this hand definitely did not belong to him.
Old Bachelor Grandpa always kept himself prepared to craft the coffins described in the Manual of Exotic Coffins, frequently doing meticulous carving work. His hands were extremely well maintained, looking softer and smoother than those of an average young person.
Yet the pair of hands before me were covered in calluses, and his fingernails were caked with dark mud.
Even more bizarrely, fine white hairs grew out from under the fingernails of all five fingers.
They looked like wool, but shorter than wool, and with a higher degree of transparency.
A term suddenly popped into my mind: White-Haired Corpse!
In an instant, my legs turned to jelly from fright, and I almost collapsed onto the ground.
"It seems someone beat us to it and tried to open the coffin. However, the other party apparently failed to open it and ended up losing a hand instead. We need to pick up the pace. No matter what, we must open the coffin before they do—Caishen cannot lose!" Master Huo looked at the bloody severed hand on the ground without a flicker of emotion on his face, seemingly long accustomed to such bloody sights.
Open the coffin!
I suddenly realized that Grandpa might have been forced by them to open the coffin, which was how he lost his hands!
In a flash, hatred surged straight to my head, and I had the urge to immediately fight to the death with this bastard surnamed Huo.
"Hehe, young man, seeing this kind of thing for the first time, you must be scared, right? Actually, the first time I saw such bloody stuff, I was even worse than you—I pissed my pants. You'll get used to it once you see more. Things you encounter in an Ancient Tomb aren't necessarily real. I remember ten years ago, in a Sui and Tang dynasties Ancient Tomb, I saw a woman and thought I'd run into a Corpse King, so I opened fire and shot at her. When I got close and looked, it turned out to be a priceless colored pottery figurine. I smashed it to pieces. I regretted it so much my guts turned blue!" Old Pizi suddenly pressed down on my shoulder and said with a chuckle.
I slowly stood up and nodded at him with a grateful look.
Old Pizi's words sounded completely nonsensical, but in reality, they were a hint to me, and they saved me.
He seemed to have sensed that I was about to make a move against Master Huo, and the story he told was meant to tell me not to make decisions without concrete proof. Under these circumstances, if I had really made a move, I would definitely have been the one to suffer. This was a pitch-black Ancient Tomb with no seeing the sun, and even if the man surnamed Huo killed me, no body would ever know.
At the same time, his words also contained some cautionary information.
Especially those two words: "open fire."
They were likely telling me that Master Huo's group had heavy, lethal firearms on them.
As for saying I was scared, that was entirely just finding a plausible excuse for my momentary loss of composure.
Old men are crafty, old horses are slick—that saying is truly spot on.
"Buddy, once you see more of this in the future, you'll be used to it! If you feel like throwing up, just let it out. You'll get used to it the more you vomit!" Lu Gouzi chimed in from the side, patting my back carelessly.
Master Huo merely glanced at me before urging everyone to keep moving inward.
Master Huo's people led the way, moving very fast and striding through intersections without a moment's hesitation. Clearly, this wasn't their first time here, and they were already familiar with the paths.
This only made me more certain that the murderers who killed Grandpa were none other than Master Huo's group.
Master Huo urged us on too urgently, and the dim light here made it impossible for me to examine the surrounding environment closely.
After walking for a full ten-odd minutes, a light appeared ahead, along with people.
Master Huo's expression instantly darkened.
The flashlight beam from the opposite side shone directly toward us. Blinded by the glare, everything before me was a stark, blinding white and I couldn't see a thing, forced to passively follow Master Huo's men forward.
When we finally reached them, I saw a massive Seven-Absolute Coffin set up before us, standing a full meter and a half high.
Standing in front of the coffin were seven or eight people, including a white-skinned, blue-eyed foreigner.
Aside from the foreigner, the most eye-catching person was a young man.
He was about my age, around one meter eighty tall, very thin, with delicate facial features.
His right hand wore a special glove.
The glove had distinct fingers, with five claw-tips as thick as a little finger protruding from them, resembling the sharp talons of a large carnivorous beast.
"That foreigner is Mr. Morgan. He made a bet with Caishen; whoever opens this Seven-Absolute Coffin first wins! See that young man? He's a master skilled in mechanical traps named Mecheng, invited by Mr. Morgan. That pair of gloves in his hands is extraordinary—the claw-tips are made from fifteen-year-old Rooster-spur Gloves. Not only are they exceptionally sharp and hard as iron, but they can also ward off evil spirits. It's said this thing can even tear apart a millennium-old Corpse King. It's a real treasure!" Lu Gouzi chattered in my ear beside me, seemingly eager to show off his knowledge.
"Doesn't that mean a poke at someone would leave five bloody holes?" I kept my eyes locked on Mecheng's rooster-spur glove, asking as if inadvertently.
"Of course! This thing is fierce as hell. Forget about bloody holes—ripping open chests, tearing out hearts and lungs is an absolute breeze!" Lu Gouzi added.
The reason I kept staring at that glove was because of the bloody hole on Old Bachelor Grandpa's chest.
When Feng Long showed me the autopsy report back then, he had said the bloody hole was punctured by fingers.
At the time, I kept thinking that it should be impossible for a normal person to pierce a bloody hole through a person's clothes with bare fingers.
Perhaps this rooster-spur glove was the murder weapon.
My mind raced, turning things over and over.
The foreigner named Morgan had made a bet with Caishen, and Morgan had hired Mecheng, who was well-versed in mechanisms.
Meanwhile, the first person Caishen probably hired was Old Bachelor Grandpa.
In that case, Old Bachelor Grandpa would have stood in direct opposition to Mecheng.
The prerequisite for a conflict was established.
Although Grandpa's hands were gone, his fatal injuries were the bloody hole in his chest and poison.
Perhaps Mecheng was also one of the murderers.
The complexity of the matter far exceeded my expectations.
I secretly warned myself that until I figured out the truth, I must never act rashly again.
Only by investigating everything thoroughly could I drag out all the murderers who harmed Old Bachelor Grandpa and make them pay a bloody price.
"Hello everyone, my name is Zhao Fada. I run a small shop called Bogu Antiques. Feel free to contact me anytime if you need anything! Please take care of me!" At that moment, a rat-faced fellow beside Morgan the Foreigner scampered over eagerly and handed name cards to all three of us.
I was somewhat speechless. This guy really was a money-obsessed lunatic who cared nothing for his life; we were standing in total opposition, yet he ran over to hand us business cards—I truly had no idea what game he was playing.
Out of politeness, however, I still tucked the name card into my pocket.
Huo Yinyang, meanwhile, locked eyes with the foreigner named Morgan.
Both sides' subordinates instinctively reached inside their jackets, adopting a posture ready to open fire at any moment.
They all carried heavy, lethal firearms.
I wasn't scared at all; in fact, I desperately wished they would start shooting.
They were all grave robbers, not a single decent soul among them—it would be best if they all killed each other off.
"Huo, there's no need for us to be at each other's throats. How about each side gets three chances? Whoever opens it wins, what do you say?" Morgan the Foreigner suddenly smiled and asked Master Huo.
"Who goes first?" Master Huo didn't agree immediately and asked him instead.
"I'll let you guys go first!" Morgan the Foreigner spread his hands with a feigned display of generosity and said.
"Fine!" After agreeing, Master Huo walked toward me.
He was definitely coming to force me to open the coffin. I frowned inwardly, my mind racing at top speed as I tried to think of a countermeasure.