The Second Coffin 02

Facing the old man’s probing gaze, Chen Guan’s mind raced as he sifted through excuses that might get him off the hook.

He couldn’t exactly say it was the newbie gift package that came with transmigrating.

That would be way too ridiculous.

In the mental realm, Baal let out a raucous laugh and urged him to hurry up and invent some earth-shattering family legend to fool these mortals.

Still, despite egging him on, Baal was curious about the coffin’s origins as well.

After knowing Chen Guan for so long, Baal knew nothing about his past.

Chen Guan chose to ignore the devil who loved watching a good show and never minded stirring up trouble. Instead, he threw out a catch-all answer.

“An heirloom passed down by my family.”

Old Wang’s hand, holding the electronic pen, froze in midair. The smile on his face stalled at the corners of his mouth.

White Tiger leaned against the nearby alloy workbench and let out a snort, helping to defuse the situation.

“Don’t give him such a hard time. This kid is incredibly guarded. You might as well expect me to work for you for free as expect him to tell you everything, right down to his underwear.”

Old Wang shook his head helplessly and turned toward the massive control console at the back. He tapped rapidly across the screen, bringing up a high-resolution holographic projection.

Chen Guan’s attention was drawn to the image that appeared in midair.

The scene was cast in a cold, gray-blue hue. A black coffin lay half-buried in the frozen earth, while the surrounding snow had been scorched into a ring of charred, radiating marks. The exposed surface of the coffin was covered in a chaotic pattern of ancient carvings.

Old Wang pointed the red tip of his electronic pen toward one corner of the lid, his expression gradually turning solemn.

“We extracted the residual energy fluctuations around the valley and collected some dust that had flaked off the coffin’s surface. Comparative analysis shows that the material is highly similar to darksteel, but its molecular structure is fundamentally different.”

Chen Guan frowned slightly, waiting for him to continue.

“Ordinary darksteel is an inert material produced through high-pressure forging. But the substance on this coffin displays the characteristics of living tissue.”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.

Chen Guan dug his fingernails into his palm. He could understand the coffin behind him—where his true body lay—being called a living thing. But the identical coffin in the Northern Frontier was alive too?

Old Wang turned his gaze back to Chen Guan, his eyes gleaming with the characteristic obsession of a researcher.

“Chen, may I perform a simple nondestructive scan on the heirloom behind you?”

Chen Guan immediately took half a step back, his face wary.

“No. My family has a rule: it can’t be touched by any external force.”

Regret flashed across Old Wang’s face, but he did not press the matter. White Tiger clapped his hands at just the right moment, dispelling the somewhat stifling atmosphere.

“All right, Old Wang. I didn’t bring him here to be your lab rat.”

With both hands in his coat pockets, White Tiger grinned cockily. “I just wanted to bring this kid over for a close-up look. I’ve told you, so I’m heading in.”

“Go, go.” Old Wang waved him away irritably, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to drive them out.

White Tiger led Chen Guan through a passage on the other side. The alloy door shut behind them, completely cutting off Old Wang’s gaze—a gaze that seemed eager to slice open both man and coffin for research.

White Tiger pressed the elevator button nearby, his carefree, irreverent expression returning. His voice echoed through the empty corridor.

“That’s just how Old Wang is. The moment he sees something new, he wants to take it apart and have a look. If you’d stayed any longer, he’d probably have started asking about the composition of your heirloom.”

When Chen Guan was there, it was Old Wang; when he wasn’t, it was Old Wang. White Tiger’s level of courtesy adapted to the circumstances.

Chen Guan stepped sideways into the elevator and glanced at him without replying.

“Come on. I’ll take you to see the real thing.”

The elevator doors slid open to either side. White Tiger stepped aside to clear the way and teased, “Let’s hope that precious family heirloom of yours doesn’t switch sides at the last moment and run off with the other one.”

Chen Guan still didn’t answer. With a creature like White Tiger, the moment you responded, he would never stop.

Chen Guan had his own method for dealing with White Tiger.

A few minutes later, the elevator stopped at an underground platform.

A black all-terrain armored vehicle was parked on the tracks. Chen Guan climbed into the passenger seat and settled the coffin in the back again before turning toward White Tiger in the driver’s seat.

“Where are we going?”

White Tiger pushed the starter lever forward, and the engine rumbled to life.

“The outskirts of the valley.”

“The restriction field around that place is extremely unusual. Ordinary aircraft malfunction as soon as they get close, so we have to use this old-fashioned metal can instead.”

The armored vehicle entered a pitch-black tunnel. Even while driving what he called an old-fashioned metal can, White Tiger handled the vehicle with remarkable steadiness. He might have been unserious with his words, but there was no denying that he was an incredibly capable man.

It was just a shame he couldn’t open his mouth without ruining it. The moment he spoke, his aura as an expert vanished without a trace.

In the mental realm, Baal yawned and chuckled. “Not bad. Lord Bael is starting to like this kind of spectacle.”

His curiosity about the coffin only grew.

The armored vehicle traveled through the tunnel for fifteen minutes before a glimmer of light finally appeared ahead.

The vehicle burst out of the tunnel, and a vast valley blanketed in wind and snow came into view.

The sky was leaden gray. Cold wind whipped snowflakes against the armored vehicle’s bulletproof windshield, producing a soft rustling sound.

More than a dozen enormous rune pillars stood around the valley. Icy-blue light flowed across their surfaces, forming a translucent shield visible to the naked eye and enclosing the entire area.

White Tiger parked outside the shield and cut the engine.

“We’re here. Get out.”

The two of them pushed open the doors, and the biting wind immediately poured into their clothes.

Chen Guan raised his collar and looked through the veil of flowing light toward the center of the valley.

A black coffin lay half-buried in the snow, radiating a deathly silence and an ominous pressure.

White Tiger walked to the edge of the shield and knocked on the layer of light.

“See that?”

“This formation was laid by the Great Wall’s finest rune master. Its main purpose is to prevent whatever’s inside from breaking loose—and to keep anything outside from sneaking in and causing trouble.”

He turned toward the center of the valley and continued explaining.

“The most important part is the restriction that thing carries on its own. No one can touch it.”

Chen Guan withdrew his gaze from the formation and asked curiously, “Have you tried?”

White Tiger shrugged with perfect openness. “Of course.”

“I had one of my summoned beasts try. The moment a seventh-tier wind wolf touched the inner restriction, it turned to ash on the spot.”

He spread his hands and sighed. “Poor little Sweetheart. I tried it myself too. The result of forcing my way in was getting blasted three hundred meters away. Hitting the ground face-first doesn’t feel very good.”

Chen Guan looked at White Tiger in astonishment. Even an eleventh-tier expert had been made so thoroughly helpless by a single restriction.

In Chen Guan’s mind, White Tiger had always been obnoxious, but omnipotent.

This was the first time he had seen the man completely at a loss.

“So no one can get inside?”

White Tiger nodded firmly.

“Not at the moment.”

“All detection equipment—even Old Wang’s prized instruments—loses its signal the instant it enters.”