Under the duress of Boss Wang, Lao Liu dared not disobey. He could only suppress his nausea and raise the diving knife once more, hacking away at the old tree's trunk, one strike at a time.

At first, each chop would send coffin fluid splattering, drenching his body and face. But as the fluid inside the trunk gradually emptied, less and less splashed out. Even so, the scene was still incredibly foul, the air thick with the stench of aged coffin water.

The other tomb raiders gradually gathered around. A few, not bothered by the disgusting smell, even helped Lao Liu chop at the tree. Soon, the group had carved out a hole about a meter square in the trunk of the tree. Dark red coffin fluid continued to flow from the opening.

Seeing this, Boss Wang told everyone to stop and wait for all the coffin fluid in the trunk to drain before continuing.

Lao Liu and the others felt as if they'd been granted a pardon. They quickly covered their noses and ran to the riverbank, where they began vomiting.

Hong Jie, overwhelmed by the stench of the coffin fluid, stayed far away, not daring to approach. But Mei Shu and I wanted to see how the tomb occupant had been entombed in the tree trunk. We endured the stench and stood nearby.

Mei Shu smoked his cigarette, squinted at the black hole in the trunk, and said in a low voice, "Rongsheng, the more I look at this, the more I think this ancient Shu king is really strange! What if his corpse has been nurtured in this tree for thousands of years? Do you think it might have become a white-haired zombie?"

Mei Shu's words immediately reminded me of the horror movies I had watched before. I remembered one movie in particular, which told the story of a corpse buried in an extremely Yin place, called a "Jiyin Shi" (accumulated Yin corpse). Because it accumulated resentment and Yin energy over the years, the corpse would become extremely ferocious. Once it was dug up, it would wreak havoc.

The thought of the scenes from the horror movie gave me a shiver. I said in a deep voice, "Uncle, let's stay away from this later. Let the tall guys hold up the sky. Let Boss Wang and Mr. Liao deal with this tomb occupant first."

Mei Shu had some faith in Mr. Liao. He nodded and said, "Since Mr. Liao is from a family of Xiangxi corpse drivers, he must have some real skills. With him here, nothing should happen."

"Let's hope so," I said softly.

By the time Mei Shu finished his cigarette, the coffin fluid in the trunk had almost completely drained. At this moment, Boss Wang waved to two of the *haozi* (rats) beside him and ordered, "Go see if there's any coffin contents inside the hole."

The two *haozi* were young men in their early twenties. As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. They were at an age where they feared nothing. Hearing the *zhiguo ren's* (pot holder's) instructions, they immediately rolled up their sleeves and reached into the hole.

One of them, with a crew cut, a dark and thin *haozi*, was really bold. He actually stuck his head into the hole and looked up inside.

I was sweating for him at the time, fearing that the tomb occupant buried in the tree trunk would suddenly become a zombie, transforming into a white-haired monster, opening his bloody mouth and biting off the kid's head in one gulp.

Fortunately, such a fantastical event did not occur, and there was no white-haired zombie in the tree hole.

The kid looked for a full half a minute before pulling his head back and saying to Boss Wang, "*Zhiguo de* (pot holder), there's something inside! It should be the coffin contents, just a few *chi* above!"

After this *haozi's* probing, Boss Wang was basically certain that there was no danger in the tree hole. He immediately walked over and said, "Really? Let me see."

Then, he imitated the *haozi*, stuck his head into the tree hole, and then said with joy, "It really is coffin contents! Great, this was so easy!"

After saying that, he pulled his head out, turned around, and said to the two *haozi*, "You two, take the contents out. Remember, be gentle, and don't disturb the owner."

The way he said it sent a chill down my spine. What did he mean by "don't disturb the owner"?

I couldn't help but ask Boss Wang, "*Zhiguo de* (pot holder), what? Are you saying that we might disturb the tomb occupant? What will happen then? Will the tomb occupant reanimate?"

Boss Wang laughed and said, "You really are an amateur. When we tomb raiders talk about disturbing the owner, we don't mean actually disturbing them. We mean bumping into or damaging the corpse. That's what we call 'disturbing'. Got it?"

I nodded quickly and said, "Got it."

"Disturbing" is also a unique term in the tomb raiding profession.

It specifically refers to tomb raiders damaging the corpse of the tomb occupant when they come into contact with it.

However, later, when these terms gradually became known to the outside world, some laymen who only had a superficial understanding of tomb raiding over-interpreted the term, saying that disturbing the tomb occupant meant causing the tomb occupant to reanimate and become a white-haired zombie. This is purely nonsense.

After Boss Wang explained the meaning of the word "disturbing" to me, the two young *haozi* prepared to remove the coffin contents.

At this moment, Mr. Liao walked over quickly and waved his hand, saying, "Wait! Youngsters are rash and clumsy, and accidents are bound to happen. I'd better do it myself."

Boss Wang agreed, saying, "If Mr. Liao is willing to do it himself, there will definitely be no mistakes."

Mr. Liao nodded, then looked around at everyone, finally looking at Mei Shu and saying politely, "Brother, I heard that before you went underground, you were a corpse fisherman?"

Mei Shu did not deny it, nodded, and said, "Yes."

Mr. Liao looked at Mei Shu's hands again and said slowly, "Corpse fishing and corpse driving are originally the same path. If you don't have compassion for the dead, you can't do this job. Brother, can I trouble you to help me and bring out this tomb occupant together?"

Since Mr. Liao had personally asked, Mei Shu was naturally embarrassed to refuse.

He nodded and immediately replied, "Sure."

After saying that, he stepped forward and stood in front of the tree hole with Mr. Liao.

Mr. Liao unloaded his equipment, placing his sacks and bamboo poles on the ground, but picked up a hemp rope. Then, he took the hemp rope and went into the hole, reaching up with both hands. From the look of it, he seemed to be using the hemp rope to wrap around the remains inside.

Listening to the "swishing" sound of the hemp rope rubbing against the corpse inside, I felt my scalp tingle. Although I knew that the tomb occupant was unlikely to reanimate and become a biting zombie like in the movies, I couldn't help but imagine Mr. Liao being grabbed by the zombie and dragged into the tree hole to be eaten.

The process of tying up the corpse was very slow, lasting about ten minutes.

Finally, Mr. Liao, covered in sweat after his busy work, crawled out of the tree hole and nodded to Mei Shu, saying, "Okay, I'll pull the coffin contents out later. Please keep an eye on it at all times. Once the remains come out of the hole, you need to quickly hold its upper body to prevent it from falling to the ground."

Mei Shu replied seriously, "Got it. Don't worry."

After the two finished communicating, Mr. Liao grabbed the hemp rope with both hands, took a firm horse stance, and immediately pulled down to begin pulling the corpse out of the coffin.