Book 3: Chapter 50: Dark Spot


    In terms of cultural symbols, this underground pce was really interesting. The mural we saw when we first came down was an extension of the whole scene and represented the crowds gathering in this ce. The mural we were looking at now had the same theme, but it wasnt showing a crowd gathering. Instead, it was showing a crowd leaving.


    We could see a lot of people on the mural. They were walking into the distance and all had their backs to us.


    It was a long line, but if you looked at what was in the distance, you would see that these people and some horse bones were starting to flock like sheep on the grasnd. These peoplesplexions looked blue and many of them were iplete, making it obvious that they were corpses. And when we used our peripheral vision to look at the mural, we could see human figures on the outskirts of the crowd. They were riding around on horses and driving these corpses in one direction.


    The painting was very good, so the meaning could be recognized at a nce.


    But what interested me the most was the top part of the mural, which showed that these corpses started to dig into the soil after some kind of ritual took ce. And the things that were driving the corpses also entered the soil. They were all dressed up, and after entering the soil, they crawled into a circle and surrounded a hole.


    Well, it wasnt a hole but more of a dark spot. But either way, I didnt know what it was referring to.


    "In the mural from before, all the people were alive. But in this mural, all the people are dead. It looks like this is a Hongmen banquet⁽¹⁾," Fatty said.


    I touched my chin and thought to myself, <em>this is obviously a view of life and death, but I just dont understand what its supposed to mean</em>.


    And I was pretty sure that this huge dark spot definitely existed, because I had seen those horse bones and the invisible ancient python corpse that kept appearing and disappearing on the grasnd.


    This may be the scene depicting when these people were buried. After eating the delicious food here, maybe they all died of poisoning and became strange corpses to be used as burial objects.


    I believed that anyone familiar with Mongolian historical mythology could make very detailed inferences after seeing these murals, but I was still confused because I hardly had any knowledge of Mongolian culture. The anxiety was making me feel nauseous, but it also represented the fear that I had been suppressing in my heart finally starting to manifest itself.


    I couldnt think logically, didnt know anything, and didnt understand anything. Even though these murals were so detailed, I still couldnt make sense of anything.


    Poker-Face squeezed my shoulder, his strength so powerful that I was immediately pulled out of my anxious thoughts. He was now facing the opposite side, where there was another mural on the wall.


    I followed closely behind, but I got a little light-headed because my brain was running at full speed without getting any results. Veins had already popped out on my forehead, so I smacked my head a few times in order to get my blood pressure to drop.


    We soon reached the opposite side and raised our shlights up to take a look at the wall. I immediately froze.


    The mural on this wall depicted only one thing.


    It was a huge dark spot that covered almost the whole wall. In fact, the dark spot here was a dark red color that had many ck patterns inside of it.


    I was so shocked by this thing that I almost tripped. The dark spot looked like an extremely evil spirit that had manifested from a soul. I didnt know how the craftsmen could make a color look so evil.


    There were a bunch of kneeling ceramic figurines in front of this mural who all seemed to be worshipping this dark spot.


    I patted my face and then pped myself, which gave Fatty a fright.


    When he asked me what was wrong, I grabbed my hair and said, "I regret it. I knew that we wereing to Inner Mongolia but I didnt study up on it. I dont care about the worlds second most valuable tomb at all. I underestimated the enemy and now people will die because of my inted ego."


    "You really havent offered up any useful assumptions, Mr. Nave. This isnt like you."


    I looked at Poker-Face. I had never been so insecure in terms of intelligence before, so I ended up looking at him out of reflex.


    Poker-Face walked up to the big dark spot, touched the mural with his strangely long fingers, and then stared at it nkly for a while. Just when I thought all three of us had really been struck dumb this time, Poker-Face said to me, "I know what this is."


    I was moved to tears as the words my benefactor! got stuck in my throat.


    ****


    TN Notes:


    (1) Its a banquet set up with the aim of murdering a guest. It also refers to a famous episode in 206 BC when future Han emperor Liu Bang escaped attempted murder by his rival Xiang Yu. Story of that event is here.