Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

Something sat up in the coffin.

It was humanoid, but not human. Its body was wrapped in tattered black strips of cloth, the skin beneath which was bluish-black, like rusted iron. Its face was fleshless, a skull covered by a layer of skin, its eye sockets sunken, with two flickering green flames within. Its mouth contained jagged, black teeth.

It sat in the coffin, not moving immediately, just sitting there, its green flame eyes scanning everyone in the hall. When it landed on Zhang Qiling and Zhang Qiling, it paused for a moment, then suddenly jumped.

Then it slowly stood up. It was very tall, over two meters, but as thin as a bamboo pole. Black strips of cloth wrapped its body, torn in places, revealing bluish-black bones underneath. It held nothing in its hands, but its fingers were long and sharp, with jet-black nails that gleamed with a metallic sheen.

"Iron Corpse Puppet," Zhang Qiling said calmly.

He had seen similar things elsewhere. Corpses refined using special methods had skin of copper and bones of iron, possessing immense strength and being more difficult to deal with than ordinary zombies.

The iron corpse puppet stepped out of the coffin, landing with a dull thud. It stood beside the stone platform, its green, fiery eyes locked onto Zhang Qiling. A hoarse sound came from its throat, like a broken bellows.

"Hey bro, this thing..." the fat man whispered.

"Step back," Zhang Qiling said.

The crowd parted, clearing a space in the middle. Zhang Qiling also stepped to the side, arms crossed, watching. He knew Zhang Qiling wanted him to handle it.

The iron corpse puppet moved. It didn't run away; instead, it walked over step by step, its steps heavy, causing the ground to tremble slightly with each step. It stopped when it was about five meters away from Zhang Qiling.

Zhang Qiling stood still, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

The iron corpse puppet suddenly accelerated, its speed astonishing, instantly rushing in front of Zhang Qiling, its right hand forming a claw, aiming straight for his heart! Its fingernails were jet black and sharp, creating a whooshing sound as they cut through the air.

Zhang Qiling moved before the claws and his body. He turned to the side, the claws grazing his chest. At the same time, the black-gold ancient sword was drawn, its blade flashing as it struck the iron corpse puppet's wrist.

"clang!"

The sound of metal clashing rang out. Sparks flew as the blade struck the wrist. Only a white mark remained on the iron corpse puppet's wrist; the skin wasn't even broken.

It swung its hand back, its claws sweeping towards Zhang Qiling's face. Zhang Qiling ducked to avoid it, then slashed horizontally with his blade, striking the iron corpse puppet in the ribs. With a muffled thud, the iron corpse puppet swayed but didn't retreat.

This thing is really hard.

Zhang Qiling's gaze remained unchanged. With a flick of his wrist, the sword's momentum shifted, slashing upwards with the tip aimed directly at the iron corpse puppet's chin. The iron corpse puppet tilted its head back, the blade grazing its chin, creating a gash from which a thick, dark red liquid oozed out.

The iron corpse puppet roared in pain, its claws flashing out like a net. Zhang Qiling didn't retreat, but charged head-on. Blade flashes and claw shadows clashed, the clanging sounds of their collisions ringing out, sparks flying everywhere.

The iron corpse puppet was strong and had sharp claws, but its movements were somewhat stiff. Zhang Qiling was faster and his swordsmanship was more agile. He circled the iron corpse puppet, aiming his blade at its joints, eyes, and throat. The iron corpse puppet kept getting wounds, black blood flowing freely, but it just wouldn't fall.

Zhang Qiling suddenly feigned an opening, leaving his chest wide open. The Iron Corpse Puppet lunged with its claw, but instead of dodging, Zhang Qiling met it head-on. Just before the claw touched his body, he shifted to the side, the claw grazing his ribs and tearing his clothes, leaving several white marks on his skin.

At the same time, he reached out with his left hand and grabbed the wrist that the Iron Corpse Puppet had pulled out. With a flash of light in his right hand, he stabbed the Iron Corpse Puppet from below, under its armpit, with the tip of the blade protruding from its shoulder!

Black blood splattered.

The iron corpse puppet screamed in agony as its other claw swept across. Zhang Qiling released his grip, drew his sword, and took two steps back to avoid the claw.

Blood gushed from the Iron Corpse Puppet's wounds, and its movements slowed. It stared at Zhang Qiling, its green fire eyes flashing, then suddenly turned and pounced on Wu Xie, who was closest to it!

"Be careful, Naive!" the fat man roared.

Wu Xie was watching with bated breath when the Iron Corpse Puppet suddenly turned around. Before he knew it, the Iron Corpse Puppet's claws were already in front of him.

A dark shadow flashed by.

Zhang Qiling, arriving first despite being behind, blocked Wu Xie's path. Wu Xie didn't dodge; instead, he struck the iron corpse puppet's claw with his left palm, deflecting it. His right hand swiftly thrust forward with his knife, piercing the puppet's open mouth and exiting through the back of its head!

The iron golem froze, its claws hovering in mid-air. Its green flames flickered a few times, then went out. It swayed, then crashed to the ground, motionless.

Zhang Qiling drew his sword, shook off the black blood on it, and sheathed it.

The fight lasted less than three minutes from start to finish.

The hall was silent for a few seconds.

"Damn..." the fat man exhaled, "Brother, you're awesome!"

Wu Xie finally came to his senses and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "Thanks, bro."

Zhang Qiling nodded, walked to the iron corpse puppet's body, and poked it with his foot. He confirmed it was completely dead.

The floating live-streaming sphere flew over and filmed the iron corpse puppet's body and Zhang Qiling standing to the side.

The comments scrolled by:

[Prophet: It ended so quickly!]

[A deterrent to skepticism from experts: This thing looks pretty hard!]

[The guy's fan club: My husband is so handsome!]

Professor Zhou Xu'an and Jiang Shouyi gathered around, squatting down to examine the iron corpse puppet. The professor was very excited: "This corpse... it's so well preserved! Look at the skin, bluish-black, it's been specially treated! And these bones..."

Jiang Shouyi pointed to a strange symbol on the iron corpse puppet's chest: "Professor, look here, there's a brand."

The symbol looks like an eye, but it's a little different; the pupil is a vortex.

"This is..." the professor frowned, "somewhat like a symbol of a ghost cave, but with the added vortex. It might represent... a passage? A door?"

Wu Xie also came over to take a look, feeling that the face looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

The fat man ignored the corpse, strolled over to the stone coffin, and peered inside. The coffin was lined with tattered silk fabrics and some scattered burial objects—a few jade artifacts and a few bronze artifacts, all covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Hey, we've got something!" The fat man's eyes lit up, and he reached out to grab it.

"Comrade Wang, Fatty!" Professor Zhou Xu'an looked up and saw this, and quickly stopped him, "You can't take them! These are cultural relics, they need to be excavated protectively, recorded, and..."

"Protect my ass!" the fat man glared. "Old man, we almost died here! If it weren't for you, young man, would you still be standing here talking? What's wrong with taking a little bit of your trouble?"

The professor's face flushed red: "You...you're damaging cultural relics!"

"Is cultural relic more important than life?" the fat man scoffed. "Besides, these things are just going to rot here anyway. If I take them out, they can at least see the light of day!"

"That's nonsense!" the professor exclaimed angrily.

Wu Xie pulled Fatty: "Fatty, say less."

"I'm telling the truth!" The fat man shook him off. "Don't pretend, you naive thing. Back when your grandpa was tomb raiding, didn't he take funerary objects? Why can't we do that?"

Black Bear laughed from the side: "Fatty, that professor is a cultured man, he's not like us."

Xie Yuchen said calmly, "You can take them, but don't take them all. Leave a few for the professor to study."

Huo Xiuxiu nodded: "Yes, a compromise."

The professor wanted to say something more, but Jiang Shouyi tugged at him and whispered, "Professor, forget it... They did save us. Besides, we can't take all of these things with us..."

The professor looked at the fat man, then at Zhang Qiling and Zhang Qiling, sighed, and remained silent.

The fat man chuckled, picked out a few high-quality jade artifacts from the coffin, and stuffed them into his backpack. He then picked up a bronze mirror, wiped it, and looked at himself: "Hey, not bad, not bad at all!"

Wu Xie shook his head helplessly. He knew that was just how Fatty was, but he had indeed survived this time thanks to his friends, so he couldn't really complain about taking a few things.

Lin Guoce and his soldiers ignored this area and inspected the surroundings of the hall. The hall was very large, and besides the stone coffin, there were several small doors on the four walls, leading to unknown places.

"Mr. Zhang," Lin Guoce approached, "which way to go next?"

Zhang Qiling looked at the small doors. He walked to the first door on the left, placed his hand on it for a moment, and shook his head. He walked to the second door and shook his head again. He stopped at the third door.

"Here," he said.

Zhang Qiling also came over, placed his hand on the third door, and nodded: "It's windy."

"There is a road there," Black Bear said.

The door was made of stone, unlocked, but very heavy. Several soldiers stepped forward and pushed it open with force.

Behind the door was a narrow passageway that sloped downwards. A breeze blew out, carrying dampness and an even stronger smell of decay.

"Should we keep going?" Wu Xie asked.

Zhang Qiling nodded and was the first to go in. "Zhang Qiling" followed.

The group set off again. The passage was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. After walking for about half an hour, they heard the sound of water ahead.

Emerging from the passage, one finds a vast underground space. A dark river flows slowly through the middle, its waters pitch black. A stone bridge spans the river, its surface damaged, some stone slabs fallen into the water.

On the opposite bank, the outlines of buildings are faintly visible, and they are even more magnificent than those on this side.

"Is that the main hall?" Professor Zhou Xu'an asked excitedly.

"Possibly," Jiang Shouyi said.

The underground river was not wide, about ten meters, but the water was so black that the bottom could not be seen. The stone bridge was damaged, but it was still passable.

Zhang Qiling went onto the bridge first, tested the stone slabs, and found them to be fairly stable. He walked to the middle of the bridge, stopped, and looked down at the river.

Suddenly, a few bubbles appeared in the river.

Zhang Qiling also went up the bridge, walked to his side, and looked at the river as well.

A few more bubbles rose to the surface of the river, and then something floated to the top.

It was a corpse. Dressed in modern clothes, it was soaked until it was white and swollen, making the face unrecognizable. But the style of the clothes... seemed to belong to an expedition team.

Then, a second, a third... a total of seven or eight corpses floated to the surface, bobbing up and down on the dark water.

"This..." Lin Guoce's expression changed. "Is it the expedition team that went missing before?"

"Maybe," Zhang Qiling said.

"How did he die?" Wu Xie asked.

Zhang Qiling didn't answer; he stared at the river. Deep within the river, a huge, dark shadow swam slowly by.

"There's something in the water," Zhang Qiling said.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the dark figure suddenly lunged upwards!