Her Marriage: The Night is Still Young-Chapter 176: I’m Not Bragging

Julian Grant swiftly grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him: "What’s wrong? Did you twist your ankle?"

Josephine Thompson staggered to steady herself.

She looked down at her feet.

What tripped her was a mountain axe, with wet soil still clinging to its edges.

"What is this?"

Josephine frowned at it, "...This is a tool for prying open coffins, definitely left by tomb raiders."

Julian Grant listened, looking surprised, "Whoa~, talk about specialized skills."

"You have to admit, these tomb raiders’ tools are quite complete and professional."

Josephine Thompson knitted her brows, feeling uneasy.

Normally, after raiding a tomb, thieves would clean up the traces.

It’s generally impossible to leave too many clues, to avoid leaving evidence against themselves.

But this group of tomb raiders was clearly not professional.

Not only did they leave behind many tools, but they also didn’t even finish the job.

Clearly.

They must have encountered something extremely dangerous and couldn’t manage to handle these things.

"Josephine, what’s wrong? What are you thinking about?"

"I’m thinking... what’s really in this ancient tomb?"

Julian Grant: "What could be in there? Dead people!"

"..." Josephine remained silent, standing up to look around.

The night was like a cloth dipped in ink, pressing heavily on the mountainside.

The beam of the searchlight swept over.

The dew on the grass glinted with fragmented light, but couldn’t penetrate the deeper shadows.

In the bushes not far away.

A dark silhouette vaguely loomed.

"Let’s go take a look ahead."

"Alright."

Josephine walked over and pushed aside the grass branches; it was a half-open canvas bag.

Inside, several items rolled out.

A folding shovel, the head of The Tomb-Finder’s Shovel, and a rusted Compass. The needle skewed at the "North" mark, as if it had been damaged by something.

"Look here."

She squatted down, her fingertips touched the inner side of the canvas bag, where a dark brown stain stuck, hard and crusted over, "This isn’t soil."

Julian Grant leaned in, sniffing under the light, a faint fishy smell mixed with mustiness hit his nostrils: "Is it blood?"

Josephine didn’t respond, her gaze moved to the ground next to the canvas bag.

The grass there was trampled flat, and the soil bore several indistinct footprints.

At the edge of the shoe prints, there was a trace of fine bluish-gray powder.

She pinched a bit between her fingers, the cold touch brought a familiar astringency, it was the compacted soil ash common in ancient tombs.

"Caw-caw--"

"Chirp-chirp-hiss--"

Out of nowhere, eerie crow calls and owl hoots filled the air.

The wind blew out from deep within the mountainside.

Chilling, oppressive, bringing with it an unknown fear and malevolence from the desolate wilderness.

Julian Grant glanced around, instinctively tightening his collar.

"Damn, this place is a bit creepy. Josephine, how about we just leave quickly!"

"They didn’t just linger here." Josephine paid him no mind, just talking to herself analytically.

She looked toward the direction where the canvas bag had rolled.

The grass leaves there bore signs of dragging, extending deeper into the darkness.

"It seems... they dragged something out from the tomb."

Julian Grant shivered, giving a wry smile, jokingly saying: "Josephine, could it be there’s a zombie?"

After saying this.

He couldn’t help glancing around.

The sky was already completely dark.

Josephine didn’t respond to him, pinching the bit of compacted soil ash up to her nose to sniff it.

Besides the earthy scent, there was a faint sweet and cloying aroma, like some kind of decaying nectar.

She suddenly lifted her head, looking toward the dark trace of dragging: "It’s not a zombie, it’s something even more troublesome."

"What is it?" Julian Grant instinctively took half a step forward, shielding her behind him.

The searchlight beam followed along.

But only caught sight of dense tree shadows, branches intertwining like a giant web, blocking the moonlight completely.

The wind suddenly changed direction, the fishy smell growing stronger.

Josephine stared at the grass stems flattened underfoot, suddenly noticing the edges of the grass leaves tinged with an eerie dark purple, as if stained by something.

She squatted down, shining her flashlight, finding a piece of pottery shard the size of a fingernail embedded in the soil, bluish-gray, engraved with half a broken lotus flower.

It was exactly like the pattern on her mother’s jade pendant, down to the arc of the petals.

"This is..." Just as her fingertip touched the pottery shard, a dull thud suddenly came from afar.

Like a heavy object hitting the ground.

Immediately followed by the crisp sound of breaking branches, coming from the direction of the dragging marks.

Julian Grant grabbed her wrist instantly: "Don’t go over there!"

But Josephine shook off his hand, the flashlight staying glued to the blackness: "That sound came from the direction of the tomb passage. Whatever they dragged out could be a Terracotta Warrior—or rather, a coffin box containing one."

She paused, lowering her voice extremely low: "My dad’s notes recorded that The Dawnveil Dynasty noble tombs used ’Lotus Motif Pottery Boxes’ for burial goods. The boxes were filled with mercury for preservation, once damaged, the mercury vapor would carry corpse toxins, emitting this sweet and cloying scent."

Before the words were even finished.

A rustling sound suddenly came from the darkness, like someone crawling in the bushes.

Julian Grant immediately raised the searchlight to scan over, catching the flash of a dark shadow, moving as fast as a gust of wind, vanishing behind the trees in an instant.

"Who?!" he shouted sternly.

The only response was the cawing of crows and the rustling of leaves in the wind.

But Josephine noticed, in the place where the shadow had flashed by. The grass had traces of silvery-white liquid, gleaming coldly under the light.

Julian Grant looked wary, "Who’s there?"

Josephine drew a sharp breath, tugging him to leave, "Let’s go, let’s hurry back and regroup with the others."

"Josephine, what was that thing?"

Josephine’s mind was in chaos, hurriedly leading him back, "Don’t worry about what it is for now, let’s hurry back first!"

Julian Grant pretended to shiver, jokingly teasing, "...Josephine, could it be a ghost? I’m so scared."

Josephine rolled her eyes, "Don’t talk nonsense, there’s no such thing as ghosts."

"If it really were a ghost, it wouldn’t be scary; what’s scary are wild beasts. There are many wild animals in this mountain, mostly lynxes, fierce enough to slash a person open with a paw swipe."

Julian Grant scoffed, "What’s there to fear about wild animals?"

"As long as it’s not lions or tigers, other animals can’t really match humans."

He said this with confidence.

Even though he disliked business politics.

But he loved studying various forms of combat and warfare strategies. And he was very skilled in martial arts, capable of defeating ten or eight strong men barehanded.

Naturally, he wasn’t afraid of wild animals.

"Josephine, I’m not exaggerating, with my skills, I’m unbeatable in Caldwen. Anyone wanting to challenge, just one word--die."

Josephine couldn’t be bothered listening to his boasting, deliberately screamed, "Ah~, there’s a snake."

Julian Grant jumped three feet high on the spot, "Holy crap, where?"