Chapter 23: In the Coffin

  In the darkness, someone is sobbing softly, and someone is trembling with fear. As soon as they close their eyes, a terrifying scene emerges: a forehead pierced by a bullet, blood splashing everywhere, brain matter spilling out. It's like a nightmare, yet it's also like a ghost that haunts the heart forever.

  It's hard to forget the scene of classmates dying miserably, that bleak blood flower, that desperate despair, those eyes that can't be closed, that young face, often appearing in front of me. Four years of schoolmates, thirteen lively lives, left forever on the same day.

  Although temporarily safe for the time being, many people are unable to calm down and are even more terrified. The classmates who died tragically, the ferocious crocodile, appear in my mind from time to time, perhaps this life will never be forgotten.

  In the bronze giant coffin, a piece of darkness, female classmates are sobbing, and male classmates are sighing. Although they escaped, the road ahead is vast and unpredictable.

  Nine dragons pulling a coffin, where to go, which is the other shore, which is heaven, light has never been seen, but the sea of suffering is already boundless. Is it advancing along the ancient road that the gods have walked? Where do the gods return, what kind of place is that...

  It wasn't until much later that the copper coffin finally calmed down. According to Earth time, it was now deep in the night. Everyone was exhausted and their spirits were weak, all of them fell into a deep sleep.

  Many people are still anxious and fearful in their dreams, tightly grasping the divine relics in their hands, as if to gain a sense of dependence and reliance on them.

  It was a torturous night, many people couldn't sleep well, waking up from time to time by nightmares, and even some girls woke up from crying. It's not that they were weak, but what they experienced was too terrifying. Many things, whether true or false, if you only hear about them, no matter how thrilling, are just a story. But if you experience it personally, it's a completely different thing.

  A group of urban men and women, whose daily lives were extremely comfortable, suddenly experienced such a tragic event, which was an unimaginable ideological shock. Witnessing the legendary demon with their own eyes, gnawing at the corpse of their companion, people around them dying one by one, how could they not be terrified?

  Even someone as carefree as Pang Bo found it hard to fall asleep, not because of anxiety in his heart, but because he was constantly being startled awake by the people around him. Ye Fan was the same, finding it difficult to drift off, with those beside him occasionally talking in their sleep or crying out in nightmares, making it hard for him to rest.

  Just five or six hours ago, almost everyone woke up, and it wasn't until another two hours passed that people's emotions slightly calmed down. At this moment, no one knows where the bronze ancient coffin is heading in the universe, and everyone begins to consider practical problems.

  The bronze coffin was extremely stable, without the slightest vibration, as if it had long been stopped in the starry sky. Is there a next stop? Perhaps, it may drift forever in the desolate depths of the universe.

  "Where will we end up?"

  Having cried and vented, even the naturally weak female classmates couldn't help but start thinking about this issue.

  "Will we arrive at the dwelling place of all the gods?"

  The starry sky was pioneered by our ancestors. In that distant front, there may really be gods, and it is possible to reach a mysterious world.

  "Does God really exist? We have seen the nine-dragon pallbearers, seen the legendary Daluo Temple, and seen the mythical Crocodile Ancestor. There should be no reason not to believe. However, I still find it hard to accept this reality. In my understanding, gods may just be a race, perhaps they once coexisted with us on Earth."

  As a modern person, almost no one believes in the existence of God, but now they have to face it, and hearing Wang Junkai say so makes it easier for people to accept.

  "Perhaps for us those gods are not strangers, maybe it's just a result of human evolution itself, and very likely they were our familiar ancient figures."

  "Whether it's evolution or a special race, we have to admit that there are indeed spirits, and the ancient ancestors obviously had contact with them."

  At the top of Mount Tai, there is a five-color altar built by the ancient ancestors. As early as countless years ago, the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns, as well as 72 kings, ascended Mount Tai to offer sacrifices, which is enough to illustrate something.

  "Perhaps those gods were our ancestors..."

  The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were all divine, ancient figures. Legend has it that they themselves were gods, so one can imagine that the Fengshan ceremony on Mount Tai was not as simple as it seems, with many possibilities.

  Perhaps they are calling out to life in the starry sky, transmitting some kind of information to the desolate universe.

  Perhaps they can really fly through the heavens and escape to the earth, the ancient land has made them feel constrained, not broad enough, so they ascend Mount Tai, leave the earth, and enter the vast depths of the universe.

  Perhaps the earth is just a relay station, a temporary stop for those who are both human and divine, a segment of their long journey through life.

  Maybe...

  What exactly happened in that distant ancient era, no one can say clearly, everything is just "maybe", but one thing cannot be denied, the ancient ancestors have opened the door to the starry sky and explored the vast universe.

  "Why aren't you talking?"

  The ancient bronze lamp had gone out, and the inside of the copper coffin was pitch black. The crowd didn't disperse too much, and everyone was very close. Right next to Ye Fan, that person leaned against the wall of the coffin, never making a sound, which caught his attention.

  "What's wrong, still resentful of me beating you up?" Pang Bo said with a cold smile: "You almost pushed Ye Fan out of the Five Color Altar, putting his life in danger. Beating you up once is already letting you off easy, otherwise throwing you into the crocodile pit wouldn't be excessive."

  "Hey, wake up, speak!" Someone next to him pushed him a little.

  However, what was unexpected was that this person not only didn't respond, but also fell to the ground with a "thud" sound.

  "What's...what's wrong with you?!" The person who pushed him was shocked and retreated repeatedly.

  At this time, everyone felt something was wrong, even if they were in a deep sleep, they would wake up with such a loud noise. However, he remained motionless, quietly lying there like a piece of dead wood.

  "Wake up, wake up quickly!" Pang Bo went forward and pushed him. Seeing that he was still not awake, he patted his face again and suddenly exclaimed: "How can the skin be so cool? The body is also a bit stiff!"

  Everyone felt a chill run down their spine as they heard this, from head to toe, and a bad premonition appeared in their hearts.

  Ye Fan felt that something was terribly wrong, reached out to feel his nose and mouth, and finally he lost consciousness for a moment, saying: "He's dead, there's no breath left."

  "What?!" Everyone exclaimed.

  How could a living person suddenly die? Not long ago, he was still talking in his sleep and suffering from nightmares, but now he is gone without making a sound, it's really suspicious.

  A sudden tension and oppression filled the bronze giant coffin, as people gasped for air in the darkness, their bodies icy cold. This was too sudden and eerie, inexplicable. Everyone tightly grasped the divine artifacts in their hands.

  "Turn on your phone and see how he died?" Ye Fan said as he raised his own phone, using the faint light to gaze forward.

  It was a pale face with bulging eyes that stared widely, the mouth slightly open, and a thread of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

  "He's really dead..." The crowd was shocked and fearful, the sudden death event made everyone feel a chill on their back, as if there was something terrifying in this copper coffin.

  Several brave classmates began to examine his body to see the cause of death.

  "Look quickly, his neck..."

  His neck was a mass of bruises, with bloodstains all over it, as if he had been strangled to death, the purple-red marks were shocking.

  "A ghost... there's a ghost in the copper coffin!" A girl spoke up with fear and trepidation, her voice full of dread.

  Upon hearing this sentence, many people suddenly felt a chill run down their spines. The purple-red bruise looked just like the fingerprints left by an evil spirit, as if they had been strangled to death.

  Especially now that everyone is in such a coffin, it makes people have terrible doubts and associations. The coffin in the distance seems like the gates of hell, making people's hearts cold, and many people involuntarily took a few steps back.

  Ye Fan furrowed his brow, reached out to touch the corpse's throat, and found that the Adam's apple was shattered. The area felt soft and mushy, with only the skin remaining intact, without any tears. A few bloodstains were left on his hand, looking eerily beautiful, sending chills down one's spine.

  "It wasn't a ghost, it was murder!" At this moment, Liu Yunzhi's face turned extremely gloomy, and he said such words, his eyes coldly scanning Ye Fan.

  Pang Bo looked at him with a glance at Ye Fan and suddenly slanted his eyes, saying: "What do you mean?"

  "Judging from the wound, it was a case of strangulation. Who could have done such a thing without making a sound?" Liu Yunzhi's face was very cold as he stared at Ye Fan and Pang Bo, saying: "Only someone who is extremely close to him and has an unusually strong grip could have done this!"

  As soon as these words came out, the tone was already very clear, and the spearhead pointed directly at Ye Fan, because he was close to the deceased, and his physique was extraordinary, with an unusually strong grip, which everyone knew.

  "You're talking nonsense!" Pang Bo was furious, picked up the large bronze gong and wanted to hit him with it.

  Liu Yunzhi sneered and looked at him: "Do you want to help someone kill me to silence me?"

  Ye Fan grabbed hold of Pang Bo and stopped his impulse.

  "It was Ye Fan, he's the killer!" The female classmate who had always stood on Liu Yunzhi's side and had helped him talk to Li Changqing several times before cried out in terror: "It must be Ye Fan, he's taking revenge for almost being pushed out at the ancestral altar!"

  Upon hearing these words, others immediately thought of the recent events and several people took a few steps back.

  "That's right, it was Ye Fan, he killed our classmate!" Li Changqing gritted her teeth and said: "Maybe someone else helped him too!"

  Pang Bo suddenly had an impulse to rush over and give them a good scolding.

  "Hum"

  Liu Yunzhi raised the Vajra pestle in his hand, and it actually emitted a metallic tremolo sound, with extremely weak light flowing out.

  Everyone was shocked, the divine artifacts in their hands all returned to normal and couldn't emit any light, while Liu Yuanzhi's Vajra still had divine power, which was beyond everyone's expectation.

  "Yefan, you're too ruthless! Even if he was wrong first, you shouldn't have taken such a deadly revenge...” Liu Yunzhi took two steps forward, holding the Vajra Pestle.

  "I said I didn't kill anyone, do you believe me?" Ye Fan swept his gaze over the crowd.

  "I naturally believe!" Pang Bo was the first to stand up.

  "I also believe!" Zhang Ziling also walked forward.

  Ye Fan looked at others and said, "Don't you believe me?" Then, his eyes stayed on Li Xiaoman's body.