Chapter 17: The Pale-Eyed Fox Corpse

The silver wire retracted automatically as Zhang Wuxun descended, stretching taut until it stopped about two meters above the ground.

Zhang Wuxun kicked off a tree, flicked his wrist, and the mechanism in his wrist cuff engaged. The silver wire continued to retract, pulling out the small silver dart embedded in the tree trunk.

Landing smoothly, Zhang Wuxun dropped the blood corpse’s head and immediately used his blade to decapitate the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse, kicking the head far away.

Wu Xie was still locked in a struggle with Fatty. Having swallowed the Qilin Jie, Wu Xie had shaken off the hallucinations and was currently trying to bash the head of a murderous Fatty with the small purple-gold box he had taken from the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse.

Seeing this, Zhang Wuxun realized the situation was bad. He reached out to stop Wu Xie, then flicked his finger against Fatty’s forehead with a sharp, crisp "ding."

Wang Fatty felt his head buzz for a moment, his vision darkening.

Seeing someone waving in front of him through his daze, Fatty shook his head vigorously. Once he regained his senses, he clutched his forehead and cursed, "Which bastard dared to flick Fatty’s head, and so damn hard too! My forehead is swollen!"

Seeing that Fatty was lucid, Zhang Wuxun ignored him and turned to check on Wu Xie.

One had to admit, Fatty was truly ruthless. Two dark, three-finger-wide bruises were clearly visible on Wu Xie’s fragile neck.

Wu Xie clutched his chest, coughing painfully, while cursing intermittently, "You... *cough*... damn Fatty, what kind of grudge... *cough*... do you have against me? You really wanted to choke me to death, didn't you!"

Fatty, feeling guilty, hissed as he rubbed his forehead and muttered, "You can't blame me for that. Who knew that damn fox-man was so evil? My head still hurts; who am I supposed to complain to?"

Wu Xie gave a heavy huff. "I'm not talking to you." He turned to Zhang Wuxun and pointed at the female corpse, which had been tossed about during their fight, saying, "Muyu, look at her. The thing in her mouth is suspicious."

Zhang Wuxun leaned in, stared at the key embedded with pearls in the corpse’s mouth for a few seconds, then pinched it and pulled it out slowly, snapping the thread attached to the back.

"Done." Zhang Wuxun tossed the key into Wu Xie’s arms.

Wu Xie caught it, held it up to the keyhole of the purple-gold box to compare, and his eyes lit up. "It really does belong to this."

At that moment, Third Uncle and Da Kui found their way out of a hole near the ground. After a brief lecture, they started showing off a gun they had scavenged.

Zhang Wuxun couldn't be bothered to listen to him sweet-talk the naive Wu Xie. He took the blood corpse’s head, sat on the steps, and kept his eyes on it, wondering why Xiaoge hadn't brought Pan Zi down yet.

Speak of the devil.

Xiaoge descended from above with Pan Zi in tow, his movements clean, sharp, and handsome as he landed steadily on the altar.

Pan Zi had already regained consciousness; he thanked Xiaoge and headed straight for Third Uncle.

Xiaoge walked over and sat down, pointed at the wrist cuff, and said in a calm voice, "Very exquisite."

Zhang Wuxun raised an eyebrow. "You stayed up there for so long; don't tell me you were studying this?"

Xiaoge nodded silently.

Zhang Wuxun’s eyes crinkled. "Then it’s yours. It took me a long time to craft this; it’s definitely a collector’s item."

Xiaoge withdrew his wrist and said nothing more, his expression remaining indifferent.

Zhang Wuxun pulled a few candies from his pocket and held them out in his palm. "Pick one."

Xiaoge pondered for two seconds before taking a plum-heart candy—a sour preserved plum wrapped in a layer of sweet malt sugar.

"Little Naive," Zhang Wuxun called out.

Wu Xie was currently studying the massive bronze coffin that had emerged from the Hydra Tree after the altar’s mechanism was triggered, while Third Uncle and the others were debating whether to pry it open.

"Hmm?" Wu Xie looked dazed, his head full of the inscriptions on the coffin.

Zhang Wuxun tossed him a milk candy. "Stop overthinking it, eat a candy to boost your brain."

"Oh."

Wu Xie caught the candy, peeled it, and popped it into his mouth, his cheeks bulging like a squirrel’s.

"Fatty, do you want one?"

Wang Fatty let out a silly laugh, trotted over, and snatched the remaining candies. "I’m telling you, Muyu, you’ve brought a whole convenience store into this tomb."

"Give it back if you don't want it."

Zhang Wuxun reached out as if to snatch them back.

Fatty dodged nimbly, ran back, and tossed one to Pan Zi. Third Uncle and Da Kui got nothing, so Fatty pocketed the last two and went back to figuring out how to open the coffin.

The coffin was tightly wrapped in iron chains, and the wax seals on it were intact. Its ancient, dark green surface looked mysterious and unfathomable.

Zhang Wuxun stroked his chin. This big coffin looked very valuable.

If it weren't so hard to smuggle out, he would have considered stashing it in his spatial storage.

Suddenly, the coffin moved twice on its own. Everyone suspected there was a corpse-zombie inside.

However, Third Uncle decided to open the coffin anyway. "All the valuable treasures in this tomb are here; we can't just leave empty-handed. So what if there’s a zombie inside? There are so many of us; at worst, we’ll fight it to the death. Besides, Xiaoge is here."

Fatty stared at the coffin and gritted his teeth. "But what about these tree vines? If we touch them, we’ll be wrapped up and turned into fertilizer."

Third Uncle had come prepared. "This tree is called a Hydra Tree. See those stones nearby? They’re called Sky-Heart Rocks, and they’re the natural bane of this tree. Didn't you notice the vines growing around them? We’ll smear some rock dust on ourselves, and we’ll be fine."

Xiaoge stood up and walked toward the coffin. After two steps, he looked back at Zhang Wuxun, who waved him off. "You go ahead; I won't join the fun."

Xiaoge nodded, grabbed some lime dust to smear on himself, and joined Pan Zi and the others near the coffin.

Zhang Wuxun glanced over, and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he quietly moved toward the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse. He pricked up his ears to listen to the commotion, pulled on a glove, and drew his dagger. He pried open the armor plates on the corpse’s abdomen, felt for the right spot, and thrust the dagger in, slicing through the shriveled, atrophied flesh. Supporting the opening with one hand, he reached in with the other to grope around. Suddenly, his fingertips brushed against something hard. He curled his finger, hooked the object, and quickly pulled it out.

He didn't have time to examine it; he quickly restored the armor and retreated to crouch beside the blood corpse’s head.

He had originally thought the black-gold box the system mentioned was a square box, but now that he held it in his palm, he realized it was a round, spherical object, two sizes larger than a ping-pong ball. He took a few looks and discovered the entire sphere was composed of overlapping mechanical parts—extremely intricate. He wouldn't be able to solve it anytime soon.

[What use is there for me to have this?]

[The host will find out in the future.]

Zhang Wuxun gave a cold laugh. [But I want to know now.]

[The host is not authorized to know at this time.]

"Damn it..." Zhang Wuxun shoved the small black-gold sphere into his storage space, feeling very annoyed.

Fine, you're the boss, you're amazing, whatever you say goes.