Chapter Fifty-Three: A Dialogue with the Air

My mind felt completely chaotic. At that moment, I heard Fatty whisper, "Don't panic. They can't see us; dammit, these are all just projections. Think about it—there are so many cracks in this pathetic wall. If there were actually people on that side, they would have noticed us by now."

"But how could Yang Lang suddenly have a woman's voice?"

"Who knows? Whether any of this is real is another matter. Maybe we've been cooped up here for too long and are hallucinating about women."

I glared at Fatty, but I wasn't in the mood to snap at him. We quickly turned our attention back to the scene.

After Yang Lang finished that sentence, the tomb chamber fell silent for a while. Then, Yang Lang, who had been brimming with masculine energy, let out a humming laugh, his eyes suddenly filled with feminine allure.

"A man like Wei Lin, once he got your token, surely took the others far away to let off some steam. Sigh, I can finally relax a bit too." As Yang Lang spoke with that woman's inflection, not only did his facial expressions change, but his entire body seemed to go limp and relaxed.

Then, Professor Chen’s voice replied, "Sigh, keeping this from them... it weighs heavily on my heart."

"What good does it do to be upset? If you reveal what happened, do you think anyone will still work for us?" A trace of ruthlessness gradually appeared on Yang Lang's face. "We spent so much effort luring that girl here; we absolutely cannot fall short at the final hurdle."

After another moment, Professor Chen asked, "Big Sister, has it really come to this?"

*Big Sister?* My heart skipped a beat.

"Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me. Is that 'Big Sister' they're talking about actually Yang Lang?" Fatty exclaimed in shock.

My brain raced. How could a woman develop into someone like Yang Lang? Thinking back to his relaxed movements earlier, I muttered, "Could it be a disguise?"

"Disguise... that’s not impossible," Fatty whispered, "but looking at Yang Lang’s height, I doubt an ordinary woman could pull that off."

While we were left in doubt, Yang Lang—or rather, the person referred to as Big Sister—said, "In terms of speed, the Yuan family is far ahead of us. We have no choice but to take this risk. If we let Wei Lin and his people know that we actually have no way to enter the Three-Day Knot Collection, no one can predict what they might do. So, we have no choice but to keep them in the dark and finish things here first."

"And what happens after that?" Professor Chen’s voice asked.

At this point, Yang Lang, or Big Sister, fixed a cold, chilling gaze on the air, offering no answer.

"Big Sister, you don't mean to..." Professor Chen’s voice sounded terrified. "Kill them all?"

Yang Lang still did not answer the question. Instead, he said, "The new recruits are almost ready to be put to use. Old Chen, I’ll have to trouble you to continue leading the team next time. You’re the only one I can trust right now."

"But..."

Yang Lang cut Professor Chen off. "Hesitation will be the death of us."

Professor Chen’s voice immediately fell silent.

"Thirty years ago, it was because my father hesitated that the Yuan family gained the upper hand. Old Chen, you don't want to be the one taken away by that ship in the end, do you?"

Yang Lang stared into the empty air in front of him. After a long time, Professor Chen’s voice replied, "I’m old now, it doesn't matter to me anymore. As long as the rest of my family can live safely as ordinary people, that’s enough."

"Exactly," Yang Lang nodded. "That’s why I chose to work with you. Hmph, Yuan Long thinks he can keep everyone in the dark and reverse everything all by himself, but I refuse to let him succeed."

After saying this, Yang Lang’s expression grew even more ruthless.

"By the way, have you tracked down the person who sent that video?" Professor Chen suddenly asked.

Yang Lang shook his head. "That person is far too capable. To send information about the Three-Day Knot Collection at that exact moment... fortunately, Wei Lin and his people didn't notice the contents, otherwise, they would have realized the Three-Day Knot Collection was completely sealed off. Regardless, even if the Snow Crane Feather is of no further use to us, we must still retrieve it. Most importantly, the map to the 'Phantom Snow Forbidden City' must remain in our hands."

"But even though we found the shaman tomb above Zhuge Ke’s, we still don't know where your father hid the map."

Yang Lang sighed. "My father was too busy guarding against the Yuan family back then; he didn't leave any information behind. Finding the location of the shaman tomb is already an achievement. After we take the Snow Crane Feather, I’m afraid you’ll have to take another risk and go up there again."

"Of course, but if we go again, we can't let Wei Lin and his people know our true purpose. As for manpower..."

"That doesn't matter. Anyway... just do whatever you see fit regarding the people. But you must remember: although this isn't the most dangerous type of shaman tomb, my father once said there is a monster inside that has no equal in this world. No one who has ever seen that thing has lived to tell the tale. However, it does have weaknesses. While you can't fight it, you can avoid it. I’ll tell you the specific method when it’s time to set out."

Yang Lang looked toward the outside. "Alright, let's take the item out first."

As he spoke, I suddenly saw the coffin in the tomb chamber shift, as if someone were moving it.

"Eh, why is this coffin so light?" Professor Chen asked.

Yang Lang frowned, then stepped forward and lifted it. Without much effort, the coffin was raised off the ground.

The scene before us was incredibly eerie: one end of the coffin was in Yang Lang’s hands, while the other end seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

Soon, a golden box—identical to the one we had seen—appeared before us. I watched as Yang Lang set the coffin down and opened the box.

"Damn, that guy is strong. He didn't even break a sweat moving that thing," Fatty whispered.

Our attention was quickly drawn to the contents of the box.

Yang Lang, crouching beside the golden box, changed his expression. "I never imagined that after being sealed for over a thousand years, the Snow Crane Feather would still look brand new."

As Yang Lang lifted the object from the box, a pure white feather fan appeared before my eyes. The Snow Crane Feather lived up to its name; it resembled the wings of a crane, unforgettable at a single glance. Aside from the handle and some decorations at the base, it was entirely snowy white. This white possessed the warm, lustrous quality of jade, yet it was as light and ethereal as an ordinary feather.

Reflecting on the past, one could only imagine how dashing and heroic Zhuge Liang—all six feet of him—must have looked, gently waving this Snow Crane Feather as he recounted the Longzhong Plan.

Just looking at it, Fatty and I both felt the urge to go over, grab it, and give it a few waves ourselves, just to experience a flicker of Zhuge Liang’s presence.

However, Yang Lang quickly wrapped the fan in a cloth and placed it into his backpack. Then, he and the unseen Professor Chen moved the coffin back to its original position.

After that, Yang Lang opened the coffin lid, and sure enough, there was no corpse inside.

"No corpse..." Fatty muttered. "Could this place have been raided long ago? That’s not right, though—the golden box and the fan were still there. Did those people take Zhuge Ke’s body out to sell it?"

"Tsk, why do you care about the corpse?" I said offhandedly. "Maybe the body turned into a zombie and went for a stroll."

I was straining to see the situation inside the coffin clearly, and the words just slipped out. But the moment I finished speaking, a "crack" sounded from behind us—the sound of wood snapping.

Fatty and I turned to look at each other, our faces deathly pale.

On that side, Yang Lang seemed to have pulled something from the coffin, while behind us, in the interplay of light and shadow, a figure stood tall.