Chapter 117: The Empty Coffin Devours a Person

"The material of this coffin is a specific type of ore. Given the geography of ancient Xia Country, it shouldn't exist there. Even today, it's rarely found domestically."

"Moreover, its natural hardness is quite low. To polish it to this level of transparency is truly unimaginable."

Wang Wenbo looked at the Transparent Coffin, maintaining a safe distance as he analyzed it.

Gao Tian asked casually, "Aren't you a computer science major? How do you know geology?"

Wang Wenbo replied, "I have three master's degrees. My parents forced me into my first major. Computer science is reality, but geology is life."

"Can you determine where the material came from, or what era the polishing technique belongs to?" Gao Tian asked.

Wang Wenbo thought for a moment. "I can. But I might need to get a bit closer to the coffin to feel its texture."

To be honest, Gao Tian quite admired the academic overachiever.

They had first met inside the Future Urn. Back then, Gao Tian's impression of Wang Wenbo was just an ordinary survivor, vomiting his guts out. He had seemed useless—a complete burden in a supernatural event.

He hadn't expected the man to be so knowledgeable. It seemed that studying was useful whether in the normal world or the supernatural era.

From the direction of the main hall came Lan Zhu's shout: "Hey, why is there such a huge black hole in the back of this golden Buddha?"

"Have you guys gone inside its belly to take a look?"

No one paid Lan Zhu any attention. The most important thing right now was the Transparent Coffin in front of them. The giant Buddha in the hall wasn't going to run away; they could inspect it later.

Wang Wenbo stepped toward the Transparent Coffin to conduct a closer inspection.

Gao Tian was cautious, stepping in front of him. "Be careful. This coffin is my final task, and it very likely conceals a Killing Rule."

Jiang Yang was already standing in front of the coffin, resting a hand on it. "It shouldn't be a major issue. I inspected Longshu Temple alone and didn't trigger any Killing Rule."

The three of them gathered around the Transparent Coffin. Wang Wenbo took a small magnifying glass from his pocket, wiped it clean, and prepared to observe the surface up close.

Just then, Gao Tian noticed something wrong. "Wait!"

"Why is there a person lying inside this coffin?"

This wasn't right. The Transparent Coffin had just been empty. It had been empty when Jiang Yang came to inspect it, and it had been empty the entire time.

Now, a dark silhouette was lying inside—an adult male, around 1.73 meters tall.

For the coffin to suddenly change like this, some sort of rule must have been triggered.

"Move!"

Gao Tian grabbed at Wang Wenbo beside him, retreating simultaneously with Jiang Yang. They fell back to a safe distance.

While falling back, Gao Tian glanced into the coffin to see exactly who was lying inside.

With just one look, his pupils shrank to pinpoints.

Because it was someone entirely impossible.

Eyes closed, arms resting at his sides, lying completely still within the Transparent Coffin.

Gao Tian felt as if his mind had exploded.

If the person lying in the coffin was Wang Wenbo, then who was standing beside him?

He immediately turned his head to look for Wang Wenbo.

He had clearly felt himself grab onto something solid, but when he looked back, he was stunned to find that what he held was just a black tree branch, about as thick as an adult man's arm. It wasn't Wang Wenbo at all.

There was a massive difference in temperature and hardness between a branch and a human arm. How could Gao Tian have made such a mistake?

The Wang Wenbo outside the coffin had vanished.

When did this happen? Wang Wenbo had clearly been the furthest away of the three, so why was he the one sealed in the coffin?

Gao Tian had been cautious enough. Faced with this sudden turn of events, he was momentarily at a loss.

While Gao Tian was still hesitating, Jiang Yang suddenly lunged forward, rushing to the side of the Transparent Coffin. "This is bad. The coffin is filling with water."

"It's trying to drown him alive!"

Gao Tian focused his gaze and saw that along the inner walls of the Transparent Coffin, countless streams of sourceless blood had begun pouring down, filling the bottom with crimson.

The blood flowed in faster and faster, its level steadily rising. If this continued, the entire thing would soon turn into a coffin of blood. Wang Wenbo would suffocate and drown.

"Save him first!"

He pressed his hands against the surface of the coffin, but no matter how much force he exerted, it wouldn't budge. It was as if the coffin were a single, seamless whole, without any gap to pry open.

He pulled out a small Mirror and pressed it against the coffin wall, trying to use the Mirror Ghost's bloody hands to drag him out. Unfortunately, the hands couldn't penetrate the coffin either.

Hearing the commotion, Wang Wenbo opened his eyes in confusion, as if completely unaware of where he was. Feeling the rising blood beneath him, a terrified expression crossed his face. He began to struggle, desperately pounding on the coffin lid to escape the confined space.

Cold sweat broke out on Gao Tian's forehead. His fingers had turned bruised and purple from the strain, yet opening the coffin remained impossible.

"Gao Tian, I'm going to use my handgun to force the coffin open. I must ask for your permission."

Jiang Yang made the request while maintaining a basic level of calm.

In the bloody water, less and less of Wang Wenbo remained above the surface, and the force of his pounding on the lid was weakening.

Gao Tian said, "Hurry up and open it! You don't need my permission."

Jiang Yang looked him in the eye and pressed further. "Your task is to bring back the Transparent Coffin intact."

"If we forcefully break open the lid, it might cause your task to fail outright."

Gao Tian fell into a brief silence.

No wonder Jiang Yang had specifically asked for permission before drawing his gun.

This might have been a trap set by Longshu Temple from the very beginning.

Gao Tian gritted his teeth. "Shoot!"

"Saving him is more important. If the coffin is ruined, I'll take the responsibility."

With Gao Tian's permission, Jiang Yang aimed at the seams of the Transparent Coffin and repeatedly pulled the trigger.

Six bullets fired, yet the coffin's seams didn't budge an inch. The shots didn't even leave a scratch.

Jiang Yang didn't hesitate. He reloaded the cylinder at top speed and continued firing at the exact same spot.

The coffin's hardness exceeded all imagination. Whether shooting it with bullets or hacking at it with an axe, leaving a mark on its surface was impossible, let alone breaking it open.

"Stop shooting."

"There's no point anymore."

Jiang Yang's hand slowly dropped to his side, still gripping the revolver.

The entire coffin was filled to the brim with blood. Inside, Wang Wenbo's corpse floated gently, occasionally bumping against the walls to reveal a sliver of pale skin.

He had already drowned.

The only good news was that despite the violent attempts to breach the coffin, not a single mark had been left on it.

It seemed that failing to "bring back the coffin intact" would be difficult even if he tried.

"We should have been more careful."

Jiang Yang covered his face with his free hand, unable to bear looking at Wang Wenbo in the coffin. He spoke with deep remorse.

Gao Tian slumped to the floor, his fists clenched tight. "What use is being careful?"

"This palm-sized temple—you checked it, I checked it, and we still fell for it."

"It's playing with us. The Killing Rules are set by them. Whoever they say dies today, dies. And we're still standing here like idiots guessing Longshu Temple's Killing Rule. What's the point?"

Gao Tian himself didn't know exactly what the "it" he spoke of referred to.

Was it Longshu Temple, the Living Apartment, or this Transparent Coffin?

Jiang Yang turned his head. "Calm down, Gao Tian."

"I've participated in many tasks. Losing emotional control is a precursor to death."

"Look at Xia Ta. When has she ever flown into a rage or lost her composure?"

Gao Tian realized his emotions were getting out of hand.

After experiencing so much these past few months, he had almost forgotten that he was still just a high school student.

Forcibly suppressing his resentment, Gao Tian looked at the coffin now filled with fresh blood. "I have a theory. It might not be right."

"It's possible that this coffin itself is something similar to an Altar. Only by sacrificing a person to it can Longshu Temple undergo some sort of change."

"So this isn't a Killing Rule at all, and there's no way to guard against it."

Jiang Yang asked, "If the coffin is an Altar, why wasn't the sacrifice your Wind Attendant Buddha? Or me, the first person to touch the coffin?"

"Why did it have to be Wang Wenbo?"

"What exactly is unique about him? The monks of Longshu Temple had to rely on him for release from their suffering, and he had to be the first one to die."

Asking Gao Tian this question was useless; he didn't know either.

Gao Tian said, "I want to move this coffin out of the temple first and see if anything happens."

Jiang Yang didn't argue. The two positioned themselves at either end of the coffin and attempted to move it.

When the coffin was empty, even the Wind Attendant Buddha couldn't push it. Now that it held a corpse and a vat of bloody water, its weight had multiplied several times over. Even with the two of them joining forces, it was impossible to budge.

If only Xia Ta were here—

Gao Tian's wrists turned purple from the exertion, but he still couldn't budge the coffin. He had no choice but to give up for now.

"Let's find someone else to lend a hand."

"When we came here, weren't there four of us?"

Gao Tian looked around. He suddenly remembered something: Wang Wenbo was dead, which meant Lan Zhu should still be here. Why hadn't there been a peep from Lan Zhu after so much time had passed?

This didn't fit that crazy woman's temperament. If she suddenly went completely quiet, she was definitely up to no good.

Jiang Yang's gaze shifted toward the main hall. "Just now, when we were inspecting the coffin, didn't Lan Zhu say she found a huge hole behind the golden Buddha?"

The two exchanged a glance, immediately abandoned the blood coffin in the center of the square, and ran to the back of the giant Buddha in the main hall as fast as they could.

High up, the black hole in the Buddha's back was still there.

Good news: they had found Lan Zhu.

The woman's climbing ability was incredible. Like a wild monkey, she had already scaled the giant Buddha. Half of her body leaned into the black hole as if investigating the interior, while the other half remained outside, a foot braced against a protrusion on the golden Buddha's back to maintain her balance.

"Hey, why aren't you making a sound?"

"Hey, what exactly do you see in that black hole? Why haven't you come down yet? Are you planning to stay up there all day?"