Digging for the third time, Wu Shuang had clearly picked up a few techniques for using the shovel. He mostly used his leg to push the shovel blade into the soil, then leveraged the handle to loosen the dirt and toss it aside.
Thanks to that, his progress was much faster this time. In less than two hours, he had dug a sizable pit, resting only twice along the way. The pit was nearly a meter deep, yet he still hadn't hit a thing.
"Could I have dug in the wrong spot?"
Wu Shuang wondered aloud. He paused his digging and looked at the gravestone facing him, leaning on his shovel to recover his stamina while keeping an eye on the front yard out of the corner of his eye to stay on alert.
Protected by stone walls over two meters high, the backyard carried little risk of danger. Truth be told, this place really made a suitable hideout.
After resting for a little over ten minutes, he resumed digging, gaining attribute experience as he worked.
However, the rain kept falling and even showed signs of picking up, filling the muddy pit with rainwater mixed with silt until it practically became a pool. Wu Shuang had no idea what lay underneath, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep digging, relying on the shovel's tactile feedback to tell if he hit anything.
Another hour or so passed, bringing the time to 5:00 PM.
By now, Wu Shuang was already considering heading back. The pit had reached a depth of 1.3 meters, but nearly half of it was filled with rainwater. The grave was absurdly deep, and with lower half of his body submerged in muddy water, his digging progress had slowed to a crawl.
The previous graves had been less than a meter deep, with the shallowest being only half a meter. This grave was far too difficult to dig.
Wu Shuang was just about to head back to the cellar to warm up by the fire when his final shovel strike changed his mind. He felt the shovel hit something hard. His eyes lit up immediately; he tossed the shovel aside and squatted down to feel around with his hands.
It felt smooth to the touch—not stone, but more like a high-grade coffin, as Wu Shuang felt raised reliefs along the surface.
Suddenly surging with newfound energy, he picked the shovel back up and kept digging around the object, pausing every few strikes to feel for its position and dimensions.
"It's so small... something's not right..."
Wu Shuang cleared away almost all the surrounding mud and silt. Having felt out the edges, he now had a clear sense of its size.
It was just a little over a meter long and probably less than forty centimeters wide. Forget a corpse, it would hardly fit even a teenager.
Besides, it was perfectly rectangular. Even with reliefs carved into it, it didn't resemble a coffin at all.
"Whatever is buried here definitely isn't a corpse—it's an item."
Wu Shuang thought with certainty. Locating a good angle, he drove the shovel deep into the dirt and tried to pry the casket out.
Because of the waterlogging, the muddy ground was loose, so this step took little effort. Ignoring whether the thing was dangerous or trapped, Wu Shuang went in with both hands, grabbed the casket, and dragged it straight out of the mud, finally catching sight of its true appearance.
It was a pure white casket, smooth to the touch like high-grade lacquerware. Despite taking several strikes from Wu Shuang's shovel, it didn't have a single scratch on it—clearly a top-tier item.
Moreover, the surface of the casket was adorned with numerous golden reliefs and gilded patterns. Resplendent and glittering, not a drop of muddy water stuck to it, leaving Wu Shuang dazed for a good while.
Had he really dug up a treasure?
The object wasn't heavy either, weighing around thirty jin. Wu Shuang placed it outside the pit, climbed out, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and ran toward the cellar at a quick pace.
With nightfall approaching and a padlock locking the casket shut, he had no choice but to head back and try to break it open by force to see what treasure lay inside.
Returning to the cellar.
Wu Shuang placed the white casket on the floor and hurried to change into dry clothes—the set he had taken off yesterday. He was finally bidding farewell to those tattered rags.
After wiping off the rainwater and finishing his preparations, Wu Shuang studied the peculiar "coffin," pondering what might be inside.
He had already cast the Appraisal Spell on it, but surprisingly, the result returned as question marks.
【Name: ??】
【Description: A wooden casket excavated from the ground, coated in a thick layer of white lacquer and decorated with gilded and pure gold reliefs. Infused with the power of Humanity, the casket has become extremely durable, remarkably sturdy, and virtually immune to decay, completely isolating the contents within from the outside world.】
...
"Could there be something sealed inside this casket?"
Having read the description, Wu Shuang grew somewhat more cautious of the casket.
Still, he couldn't resist the urge to open it, as it very likely held a treasure that could turn his situation around.
Golden Humanity.
There was no way an evil entity was inside.
The golden light he had witnessed in the night gave Wu Shuang a boost of confidence. He looked at the padlock and hasp—both visibly rusted and starkly mismatched with the casket's material—and began forcing them open.
The short hammer and dagger at hand served as his tools, used like a chisel.
He intended to break the hasp, rendering the padlock useless.
After about ten minutes of clattering and banging, the hasp finally broke, and the padlock fell away.
Wu Shuang swallowed hard. He grabbed the hand axe beside him while reaching for the casket lid with his other hand, applying a bit of force to flip it open to the side.
Specks of granular golden light seeped through the cracks of the casket. Wu Shuang's eyes widened as he witnessed Golden Humanity once again—and it wasn't even nighttime yet.
Once it was opened completely, he froze, even forgetting to breathe. His gaze was captured by a mane of golden hair more radiant than pure gold and as smooth as fine silk, almost completely filling the casket. It originated from a head resting on a pure white cushion at the top of the box.
Yes—there was only a head.
From the neck down, it appeared to have been severed by some sharp weapon. The broken cervical vertebrae, esophagus, and even blood vessels were clearly visible. Yet there was no decay whatsoever—it looked as though time had frozen at the moment of decapitation. It was so remarkably preserved that not even a single drop of blood bled out.
As for her appearance...
Wu Shuang swore this was the first time in his life he had ever seen a woman this beautiful... no, this perfect. She was breathtakingly gorgeous, her features seemingly designed to the golden ratio, her skin fair and delicate, everything flawless down to the last detail.
She lay there with her eyes closed as if fast asleep, the delicate, curving lashes on her eyelids clearly visible.
"A dead person's head...?"
Wu Shuang said in disbelief, having never expected such an object to be stored inside.
The Golden Humanity was seeping directly out of this severed head, including her brilliant golden locks.
Wu Shuang swallowed hard. Beautiful as the head was, he maintained his self-control—he wasn't about to harbor improper thoughts toward a severed head. Gradually, he shifted his focus to another item beside the head: a sword largely covered by the golden hair.
The hilt rested right against the side of the head's cheek, almost as if she were resting on it. The blade was still stained with vivid, fresh blood, suspect of being the weapon used to slay the woman.
This thing was definitely an incredible treasure!
No doubt about it!
Just looking at the guard—formed by concentric rings shaping a rose—one could tell its craftsmanship was extraordinary.
It was a rapier, its blade only a finger wide, yet featuring thorn-like serrated protrusions along both edges, exuding an aura that was both elegant and terrifying.
Wu Shuang immediately cast an Appraisal Spell on it, his eyes widening in shock.
Fucking Perfect quality!
But Wu Shuang didn't grab it right away. He cautiously cast an Appraisal Spell on the woman's head as well.
【??】
【Description: A breathtakingly beautiful female head.】
...
"Huh? It can't be appraised?"
Wu Shuang said in surprise. The only other time he had encountered a result like this was with the old knight.
Yet after hesitating for merely two seconds, his hand reached toward the Perfect-quality rapier. But right then... the eyelashes on the woman's eyelids twitched, and her eyes snapped open!
Rate on N.U.
