The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 44: Open the Coffin

The five of them followed the procession at the very back through the field and up a mountainous woods, finally reaching the hill cemetery.

A good number of graves scattered along the slope. Only a few were proper tombs built of cement with short fences and two fir trees planted before it, as well as incense sticks lit for the dead. The majority were simple mounds overtaken by tall grass; it was obvious that no one had been tending to the burial sites.

The coffin bearers carried the coffin to a hole that had already been dug. After the Taoist priest conducted a series of rituals, the villagers substituting the role of family members started wailing again. Then, amid the percussion and firecrackers, four men lifted the coffin into the hole before they each took a shovel and quickly filled it with soil.

The villagers watched for a while before going their separate ways to return home, leaving only the four men burying the coffin and an old man overseeing the process. It was Patriarch Wu, who had been in charge of collecting the condolence money at the reception.

He gave orders from the side, “Work faster. Finish it before eight o’clock. And press the soil tighter.”

Officer Huang made a gesture, and the five of them went up to the men.

Officer Huang took a spare shovel and helped with the burial. Recognizing him, Patriarch Wu walked up to him and gave him a cigarette. Officer Huang accepted the offer, tucking the cigarette behind his ear.

“I hope you understand, Officer Huang.” Patriarch Wu sighed. “I want the police to solve the case as soon as possible as well, but the funeral couldn’t wait any longer. It needed to be done when the villagers still cared about Huazi’s family. After some time, not even I would be able to mobilize everyone as the village chief. Then Huazi and his family would really become lost spirits.”

“I understand.” Officer Huang continued to shovel soil. “The autopsy has come out already. Burying them won’t undermine the investigation.”

Patriarch Wu nodded. “Good, that’s good.”

During the process, Officer Huang handed the shovel to Qing Ling when Patriarch Wu wasn’t watching. She sent the shovel to a tree behind her with a simple lift of her hand.

The coffin was buried in less than twenty minutes.

Gao Yang and Officer Huang hadn’t found out anything useful by talking to the villagers. Then all five of them followed Patriarch Wu and the four men back to the village, parting ways at the entrance.

They pretended to leave the village and went back to the forest to make plans.

“Why did you tell me to hide the shovel?” Qing Ling asked Officer Huang.

“To dig up the coffin,” Gao Yang said. He had discussed it with Officer Huang earlier.

“You’re digging it up?!” Fat Jun jumped.

Officer Huang smiled. He put the cigarette Patriarch Wu gave him to his nose and inhaled, but he didn’t dare smoke it. “We’ll wait til night comes. Then we dig the coffin up in secret.”

“Is that...really necessary?” Fat Jun looked reluctant.

“We have to end things today one way or another.” Officer Huang looked over at everyone. “I’ll tell you what Gao Yang and I have planned. We’ll be resting here for the next few hours and do our best to conserve stamina. Then once the night comes, we’ll first dig up the coffin and see if we can find out anything useful.”

He sat down with his back against a tree. “If there is, we’ll plan accordingly. If there isn’t any clue, we’ll launch an attack as we planned before. Fighting every monster in the village head on would be a losing battle. We’ll ambush each household stealthily. Then maybe we’ll flush out the mastermind.”

“Ambush?” Wang Zikai seemed disappointed. He was looking forward to an epic battle. “That’s low!”

“Humans are not built the same, Wang Zikai.” Gao Yang did what he did the best again—bullshitting. “You’re the chosen one with great inherent power. You’re stronger than all of us, and you’ll be fine with a frontal assault. However, we are in a weakened state. The battle would be too dangerous for us... And you can’t protect all of us while you fight. You wouldn’t want to defeat the monsters on your own only to have all of us end up dead, would you?”

Gao Yang’s flattery worked wonders on Wang Zikai. He swung his arm and said, “Heh, I guess there’s no other way. Alright, we’ll ambush the lizardmen! But let me say this upfront: you must leave the boss monster to me!”

“Of course.”

Officer Huang and Fat Jun shot Gao Yang an admiring look. He was so good at this he might as well be a monster whisperer!

...

Night fell at about seven o’clock in the evening. Officer Huang woke up the other four, and the five of them snuck their way to the hill cemetery on the west side of the village with darkness as their cover.

Unlike in the morning, the cemetery seemed haunted and terrifying once night fell. Fat Jun, the scaredy cat among them, kept shaking with a pale, almost bluish face. He was walking at the center of the group, surrounded by companions, but he still jumped at every little noise and movement.

Qing Ling lifted her hand and called the shovel over from the tree. “Any volunteers?”

“I’ll do it!” Wang Zikai took the shovel and walked up to the mound, quickly getting to work.

Meanwhile, the other four kept watch. If any villager happened to come this way, they would have to kill them.

Fortunately, there was no unexpected visitor.

Thanks to his great inherent strength, Wang Zikai quickly finished digging and cast the shovel aside, his forehead covered in sweat. “Done!”

Everyone else approached the hole. The serene moonlight shone on the coffin covered in soil, making it seem ghostly and cold. They shared a look, but no one volunteered to open the coffin.

Outside of Wang Zikai, that was. “What are you so afraid of? Get out of the way. I’ll do it!”

“Wait.” Gao Yang stopped Wang Zikai. They didn’t know what was inside the coffin. It was best to be cautious. He picked up the shovel and inserted it under the lid before quickly backing away. He turned to ask Qing Ling, “Can you do the rest?”

“It’s heavy, but I’ll try.” Qing Ling extended her arms. “Metal!”

Pulled by an invisible force, the shovel slowly moved downward, prying the coffin open. Officer Huang took aim with his gun, while Gao Yang raised the dagger he had been keeping on himself as insurance, waiting for any danger to come.

Thud! Finally, the lid of the coffin opened.

They all took a couple instinctual steps back, their heart in their throats.

Silence stretched for a few seconds. None of the dangers they had expected happened. The coffin in the hole was quiet. They couldn’t even smell the rotten smell of corpses.

Exchanging a look, they slowly walked up to the hole again and halted when they saw what was inside.

The coffin wasn’t empty, and there was nothing supernatural inside. All there was were the remains of Huazi’s family, but...they had all become skeletons.

Gao Yang lit it with his flashlight and counted. There were four skulls, so it seemed that the bride’s head was still missing.

“That’s it?” Wang Zikai found that anticlimactic. “I thought we would see something exciting!”

“Hasn’t it been less than ten days since the family died?” asked Qing Ling. “How are they all skeletons now?”

“It couldn’t have been more than three days since the police returned the bodies.” Officer Huang frowned. “It’s only April. No matter how fast the bodies have been decomposing, they can’t have turned into skeletons in such a short time.”

“Can it be...that the bodies are eaten?” Fat Jun jumped to a guess.

Gao Yang shook his head. “The bones haven’t been chewed.”

“Yeah, it’s more like...” Officer Huang paused. “They’ve been dead for a long time.”

Chilly wind swept over them, rustling the leaves and branches. Gao Yang suppressed a shudder.

“Let’s go,” said Gao Yang.

“What is it?” Qing Ling looked over at him.

“Let’s get out of here first,” Gao Yang said gravely. “I think...I’ve figured out what happened.”

Officer Huang asked, “Then what do we do about this? Should we make it seem like we haven’t been here?”

“Let’s just leave it.” Gao Yang wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Under his urging, they quickly left the cemetery.

When they got to the village, it was about eight o’clock in the evening. A good number of households still had their light on. They carefully kept their distance from the villagers and snuck into Huazi’s house. Gao Yang immediately closed the doors and windows. This time he didn’t even turn on the flashlight.

“What’s going on, bro? Don’t make us wait!” Wang Zikai asked hurriedly.

“I’ll give you the conclusion first.” Gao Yang lowered his voice. “We didn’t go back in time to the Gu Family’s Village thirty years ago, neither have we been transported to the inner world or a dream realm.”

In the dark, everyone waited for him to finish with bated breath.

Gao Yang inhaled deeply. “This is the Gu Family’s Village from back then.”