Volume One: The Graveyard of Eight Coffins Chapter 39: Twins

The events we encountered grew more and more bizarre, which only piqued my curiosity further.

That exquisitely crafted, uniquely shaped bixi, though Ma Su described it in grandiose terms, seemed to me nothing more than a turtle-shaped coffin. What intrigued me most was: who was entombed inside this turtle coffin? Could it really be Wu Baozhang from years ago?

After Ma Su gave the order to open the coffin, I climbed up along the bixi’s wide, flat back—it was spacious enough for three or four people to stand on without difficulty. Atop the turtle’s back was a single coffin, without an outer shell. I pressed both hands against the lid and, with a push, it slid aside with surprising ease—there were no nails securing it. Once I had removed the lid, Ma Su climbed up as well, oil lamp in hand, and peered inside.

As expected, there was a corpse lying within.

Yet this corpse was not the ancient remains I’d imagined, nor was it Wu Baozhang. In fact, I recognized the person immediately—it was Wu Tianyou’s younger brother, Wu Tianxiong, the very man who had loaned usury to my third uncle.

Wu Tianxiong’s face was deathly ashen, clearly lifeless. But we had only seen him a few days ago; he was the one who had led my third uncle and me to Tianyou Group.

How was it possible that just days later, he was dead?

Rubbing my eyes, I took the lamp from Ma Su, worried I might be seeing things due to nerves.

But now, under the clearer light, I could see even more distinctly: above Wu Tianxiong’s head and each shoulder stood a candle. The ones above his shoulders were still burning with bean-sized flames, while the one above his head had been extinguished.

Summoning my courage, I leaned in for a closer look, desperate to make sense of the scene. But as I bent down, a sudden strange laugh echoed from behind me, reverberating through the tomb, chilling me to the bone.

The abruptness of that laugh made me shudder. I spun around in alarm.

What I saw nearly made my jaw drop.

Standing before me was Wu Tianxiong—alive and breathing, a perfect duplicate of the corpse in the coffin.

How could this be? I glanced from the coffin to the man before me—they were undeniably the same person. Was I hallucinating?

The living Wu Tianxiong glared at me, teeth clenched. "You little brat, I really underestimated you. Thought that controlling your third uncle would scare you off, but you actually dared to come here. Well, fine—now you and that old man can both be buried here with me."

As he spoke, Wu Tianxiong drew a pistol and pointed it directly at me.

Ma Su, alarmed, raised his hands hurriedly and said, "Sir, please, calm down—"

But before Ma Su could finish, Wu Tianxiong swung the gun and fired a shot above Ma Su’s head.

With a thunderous bang, dirt rained down from the tomb ceiling, covering Ma Su from head to toe and making him shrink back in terror.

Good lord—Wu Tianxiong’s gun was real. After firing, he turned the barrel back at me, smoke curling from its muzzle.

I had only ever seen guns in crime movies—this was the first time a real gun was pointed at me. Staring into that dark muzzle, I felt the true terror of being at its mercy.

Looking from the coffin to the living Wu Tianxiong, I could scarcely believe it. Forced at gunpoint, I dared not move, but raised my hands and stammered, "Wu... Boss Wu... Don’t be rash. Are you really Wu Tianxiong? Then who... who is in the coffin?"

Wu Tianxiong sneered, "Ever heard the saying, ‘Curiosity killed the cat’? That’s you—the cat curiosity killed. I wasn’t planning to take your life, but you came knocking on hell’s door yourselves. Now that you know what’s down here, there’s no way you’ll leave alive..."

His face was expressionless, more shadowed and venomous than the ferocity he usually displayed. But his intent to kill was palpable, his hand on the gun trembling ever so slightly, ready to shoot at any moment.

I glanced around, warning myself to stay calm. Against someone as ruthless as Wu Tianxiong, provoking him with words would be fatal. With my third uncle absent and Ma Su a lifelong scholar—likely helpless in this situation—I could rely only on myself.

Steadying my nerves, I said, "So all this was orchestrated by you. But I don’t understand—this is your brother’s property. Why do all this?"

Unexpectedly, my words seemed to touch a nerve. Wu Tianxiong’s brow shot up and he barked, "Nonsense! This place doesn’t belong to Wu Tianyou alone—it belongs to the Wu family. The buildings above and the tombs below are all ours!"

His agitation suggested he was in no rush to kill us, so I pressed on, "You mean these tombs below are also your family’s?"

Wu Tianxiong nodded. "Of course. This is the ancestral burial ground of the Wu family—a site blessed by feng shui."

I was stunned. "So Wu Baozhang... he’s your ancestor?"

Wu Tianxiong snorted, not answering directly, but his meaning was clear.

I was floored. When I’d seen Wu Baozhang’s name on the stone tablet, it hadn’t occurred to me that he shared a surname with Wu Tianxiong and Wu Tianyou. In that case, when Wu Tianyou planned to develop this area, he must have known about the ancestral tombs below; otherwise, the coincidence would be too much. But then, wasn’t Wu Tianyou essentially digging up his own ancestors’ graves? In other words, desecrating his own family tomb?

I nodded. "So you’ve dug up your own ancestral tombs with your own hands?"

Wu Tianxiong jabbed a finger at the ground, teeth clenched. "If we don’t dig, should we wait for outsiders to desecrate our ancestors’ graves?"

At this point, Ma Su, who had been cowering nearby, interjected, "You could have reported the existence of these tombs to the authorities. These are Qing dynasty relics—there are many valuable artifacts worth studying—"

I couldn’t help but find Ma Su’s words naïve. Not everyone has such lofty ideals.

Sure enough, Wu Tianxiong was furious, swinging his pistol toward Ma Su again.

I panicked, terrified he’d pull the trigger and kill the old man then and there.

I quickly waved my hands. "He’s just an old scholar—he doesn’t know how to talk. The one lying there can’t be your ancestor Wu Baozhang, can it? It’s clearly a recent corpse. Who is it?"

This was the mystery I most wanted to solve. If this was Wu Baozhang’s tomb, why wasn’t he buried in the main coffin? And this person looked exactly like Wu Tianxiong—apart from life and death, I couldn’t see any difference at all.

Wu Tianxiong shot me a cold glance and sneered, "Some things are better left unknown. If you learn the truth, there’s no way you’ll leave here alive."

I gave a bitter laugh. "Even if we never learn the truth, I doubt we’ll get out of here alive. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve been watching us ever since we arrived. What I don’t understand is: Wu Tianyou is your elder brother. Why would you sabotage the family’s feng shui to harm him?"

Wu Tianxiong nodded. "Fine. These things have been buried in my heart for years, weighing on me like a boulder. I’ve never told anyone. If you want to hear the story, I’ll tell you. But know this: refusing to listen means death, but listening means an even worse death."

I stared at Wu Tianxiong’s face, now twisted in pain, teeth clenched so hard his features were nearly distorted. Clearly, he had a bitter secret bottled up for years. Now, with only me and old Ma here, we were to be his unwitting confidants. After all, in his eyes, we were already as good as dead—only a matter of when.

Still pointing the gun at us, Wu Tianxiong glanced at the body in the coffin, and for a fleeting moment, a hint of tenderness flashed in his eyes. This stunned me—my impression of Wu Tianxiong was that of a ruthless man, yet in his gaze was an unmistakable trace of emotion.

Wu Tianxiong spoke: "The one lying in the coffin is my twin brother, Wu Tianze."

At this, neither Ma Su nor I reacted much. After all, two identical people immediately suggested twin brothers. But what puzzled me was, if Wu Tianze was Wu Tianxiong’s twin, he would also be Wu Tianyou’s brother, yet neither Wu Tianyou nor Liang Yue had ever mentioned another sibling. How did he die, and why was he here beneath the parking garage?

Wu Tianxiong continued, "You must be wondering why he’s here. I’ll tell you: everything I’ve done was for Tianze. Though we were twins, after birth our constitutions were vastly different. Tianze was frail and sickly, but because he was born an hour before me, he always played the role of the elder brother—letting me have the toys, the treats, everything. We were always close. But Wu Tianyou—he’s rich, yet he never helped Tianze with his illness. People say I’m ruthless, but they don’t know Wu Tianyou’s heart is a hundred, a thousand times more merciless. My ruthlessness is in my actions; his is in his heart..."

As Wu Tianxiong spoke, his face contorted in rage, teeth grinding. Only now did we realize the depth of his hatred for Wu Tianyou.

All the while, Wu Tianxiong kept his gun trained steadily on us, never wavering. Around us, there was only his voice—no other sound disturbed the oppressive silence.

(End of chapter)