Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 60 Mummy
There was a large bamboo forest behind the mountain temple. The bamboo forest was dense and the breeze blew up waves. The three of them walked through the bamboo sea and it took a long time before they found the cave. There were some sundries discarded in the cave, including tattered quilts, dirty clothes and some food scraps. Rong Wanyin could smell a foul odor from a long distance away, but this odor was also tinged with the scent of camphor wood.

The smell made Rong Wanyin feel nauseous. Su Zhan shook his head helplessly: "It seems that sometimes having an overly sensitive nose is not good."

Yan Mingzhang took out a handkerchief he had brought with him, poured a little water on it, moistened the handkerchief, and handed it to Rong Wanyin: "It will feel better if you cover your mouth and nose."

Rong Wanyin took it and carefully covered her mouth and nose.

There was no one in the cave, and it was not a good idea to go in directly, so the three of them had to walk in the bamboo forest while waiting.

As she walked, Rong Wanyin discovered another foul odor in the bamboo forest. Even though she covered her mouth and nose with a wet handkerchief, the stench still made her nauseous. Holding back the urge to vomit, she pressed her handkerchief down with one hand and pointed to the base of an exceptionally thick bamboo. "What's buried under that bamboo? It stinks! It smells like a corpse!"

Su Zhan was shocked. Although he also smelled some faint stench, he didn't think it was the stench of a corpse at all. It just smelled a little like a dead rat: "Corpse stench? Rong girl, are you sure? Chengxuan...this..."

Yan Mingzhang had a solemn expression on his face. He used a dagger to cut off two long bamboo sticks, handed one to Su Zhan, and used the other for himself: "Dig it open and you'll know."

Su Zhan looked at the bamboo stick in his hand and hesitated a little, but seeing that Yan Mingzhang had already started, he felt embarrassed to just watch, so he had to pinch his nose and use the bamboo stick to poke at him from a distance.

After a while, the thick layer of rotten leaves on top was pulled away, and a pile of gray hair suddenly appeared in the soft black soil.

"Ah!" Although Su Zhan had been mentally prepared, he was still frightened. He took a few steps back and was tripped by a bamboo root. He fell flat on his face and dropped the bamboo stick in his hand. "What is this? It can't be..."

Rong Wanyin picked up the bamboo stick, strode forward, squatted down, and, suppressing her nausea, began digging with Yan Mingzhang. In the space of a cup of tea, a shrunken head was dug out.

"Why does this thing feel so strange?" Rong Wanyin stared at the head carefully, looking around, somewhat puzzled, "But I can't quite put my finger on what's strange."

"Of course it's strange to find an unidentified body in a bamboo forest!" Su Zhan hid behind another thick bamboo, poked his head out, and said with a look of horror.

Rong Wanyin shook her head slightly and fell into deep thought.

After hearing Rong Wanyin's words, Yan Mingzhang began to think carefully and said slowly, "That's not right."

Su Zhan's eyes were almost rolling to the sky. After finding the dead body, instead of asking the coroner to check it out, you guys are squatting here studying it!

Yan Mingzhang used a bamboo stick to push aside the messy hair, revealing the deceased's shrunken face. He slowly spoke, "Judging from the degree of decay of the deceased's skin, hair, and clothing, he must have died not long ago, probably less than a year, yet his face looks so withered."

"Sir, your words reminded me of something. I once read that mummies like this usually form in places like deserts where there's very little water and the weather is hot. This bamboo forest, however, has abundant rainfall year-round and the soil is fertile. It doesn't look like the kind of place where mummies can form." Yan Mingzhang nodded in agreement. "Indeed, this body is clearly fresh, yet it looks like it's been buried in the desert for dozens or even hundreds of years. It's truly eerie."

"New... fresh?" Su Zhan felt his stomach churning, his throat churning with acid, and he looked like he was about to vomit. He rolled his eyes fiercely and thought to himself, "Who would use the word 'fresh' to describe a corpse? Are you weirder than that corpse?"

"The deceased must have died in the desert, been made into a mummy, and then transported here and buried here." Su Zhan said unhappily. He really couldn't stay for another quarter of an hour and really wanted to leave immediately.

Yan Mingzhang pondered for a moment and shook his head. "That's still not right. If it's homicide, why didn't the murderer just dump the body in the desert? That way, no one would ever find the deceased. Even if they were found, they could just say it was an accident. Besides, the nearest desert is very far away from here. Even if we gallop and travel for several days, it will probably take two or three days. There's no need to transport the body all the way here, unless there's some use for it."

Rong Wanyin continued Yan Mingzhang's words, "If it's the deceased's relatives who are here to pay their respects, that doesn't make sense. There's no tombstone or memorial tablet here, and it doesn't look like they're offering sacrifices. And if someone were buried here, wouldn't it be easy to spot them if villagers came to dig up bamboo shoots? Who on earth would have killed this person and buried him here?"

Yan Mingzhang nodded in agreement, "Indeed. Therefore, it's very likely that the deceased was mummy for some special reason and buried here. Let's not alert the enemy yet. We'll think of a solution after we return. Have Changfeng take a few people to dig through the bamboo forest and see if there are any other discoveries."

Yan Mingzhang stood up and carefully covered the wet soil and rotten leaves with a bamboo stick. He stood up and stepped on the rotten leaves a few times to compact the soil. He looked around and made sure there was no clue. Then he stepped back and said to Su Zhan and Rong Wanyin, "Go ahead and do today's business as usual. We'll discuss this after we get back. Don't alert the enemy."

The three of them approached the cave again. There was no one inside, suggesting the woman in red had gone out to find food. Inside the cave was a white porcelain jar, cleaned to the touch, placed on a large rock.

The three of them waited for a while and then heard a noise in the bamboo forest. They turned around and saw that it was the woman in red who had returned.

The same woman was startled when she saw them, then turned and tried to run. Rong Wanyin tiptoed and sprinted ahead of the woman. Now that she was sure it was a human, she was no longer afraid. The woman turned around, only to find that Yan Mingzhang and Su Zhan had blocked her way.

"Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you." Rong Wanyin took out a stone pancake from her arms and handed it over.

The woman looked at the stone pancake in Rong Wanyin's hand, hesitated for a moment, swallowed her saliva, snatched it away, stuffed it into her mouth, and began to eat it voraciously.

Taking advantage of her slightly lowered guard, Rong Wanyin slowly approached her, gently took her hand, asked her to sit on the big rock outside the cave, and signaled Yan Mingzhang and Su Zhan to move away.

Rong Wanyin handed the kettle over. The woman snatched it and took a few big gulps. Suddenly, she started coughing because she was too anxious. Rong Wanyin gently patted her on the back.

The woman looked at her gratefully and continued eating.

Rong Wanyin asked softly, "Sister, what's your name? Where is your home?"

The woman shook her head with a gloomy expression, her eyes filled with tears.