Chapter 57: Opening the Coffin and Rising from the Dead
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An Bu had said she would come back for dinner. Jian Ningxuan waited until past 5 o’clock without her arrival. Worried, he called her, but the call couldn’t go through. Initially thinking it was just a dead battery, he patiently waited for a while. Unable to bear it any longer, he used his computer to track her location. The coordinates of her last signal were near Chuanlong Bridge. An Bu wouldn’t go there; it wasn’t on her way from the university to their neighborhood.
Jian Ningxuan was concerned. Utilizing his technical skills, he covertly accessed the surveillance cameras around the university. Around 3 o’clock, he spotted An Bu leaving the university and heading in the direction of the neighborhood. At around 4:30, she paused near the neighborhood gate and then walked towards the nearby parking lot.
When Jian Ningxuan was about to access the surveillance footage of the parking lot, he discovered that the camera was unexpectedly malfunctioning! After this, An Bu disappeared, and there was no trace of her in the nearby surveillance cameras. The most plausible explanation was that she got into a car in the parking lot and drove towards Chuanlong Bridge.
If An Bu had something urgent to attend to, she would have surely informed him, and she wouldn’t have left without a word. Even if her phone was out of battery, she could charge it temporarily in the car, send a text, or make a quick call. Since An Bu didn’t do any of these, Jian Ningxuan suspected that something might have happened to her.
Jian Ningxuan could only patiently sift through the surveillance footage, frame by frame, looking for suspicious vehicles. This method was undoubtedly like finding a needle in a haystack, but he couldn’t think of a better solution. It had been less than three hours since An Bu went missing, and there was no concrete evidence indicating foul play. The police might not take the case, and even if they did, they would likely start by checking the surveillance footage. Jian Ningxuan thought it would be more efficient to handle it himself.
After two hours of continuous watching, Jian Ningxuan’s eyes were bloodshot. He picked up his phone and called Officer Sun, telling him that An Bu might be missing and asking for help in investigating the details of the thirty-plus vehicles he had identified. Then he grabbed his laptop, hurriedly left his house, and drove towards Chuanlong Bridge.
While driving, Jian Ningxuan’s phone suddenly rang. The screen displayed an unfamiliar number, and he felt an instinctive connection, answering without a second thought.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Jian…” A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone, and Jian Ningxuan’s suppressed emotions erupted in an instant.
“An Bu, where are you?!”
“Mr. Jian, please listen to me…”
When Jian Ningxuan learned that she had been kidnapped, his whole being was on the verge of exploding. What shocked him even more was her revelation that she had been put into a coffin and buried underground!
Buried underground!!!
After a brief moment of blankness, Jian Ningxuan’s brain quickly kicked into gear. Considering the oxygen level inside the coffin, An Bu could endure for a maximum of around 100 minutes. He had to find her location within 100 minutes and dig her out from underground!
Jian Ningxuan parked his car by the roadside, opened his laptop, entered An Bu’s current phone number, and quickly tried to locate her. However, before the location could be pinpointed, the communication was forcibly interrupted. He only managed to narrow down the search to a general area.
Closing his eyes, Jian Ningxuan forced himself to calm down. When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with a deep, haunting blue. He called Officer Sun and informed him of the situation, urging him to dispatch a search team as quickly as possible.
Officer Sun, upon hearing the news, was immensely shocked. Without asking too many questions, he immediately contacted the search team. However, even if they rushed to the location, it would still take one or two hours at the earliest.
And An Bu’s potential survival time was only 100 minutes.
“Mr. Jian, I will… ‘stay alive’… wait for you to find me…”
With An Bu’s final message echoing in his ears, Jian Ningxuan gripped the steering wheel tightly, with only one thought in his mind: You must wait for me!
While driving, Jian Ningxuan bought two shovels. He knew the search team couldn’t arrive within 100 minutes, so before their arrival, he had to rely on himself.
However, he wasn’t without external assistance. Messages seeking help would be sent to the phones of everyone around the incident site. Many people would likely be willing to lend a hand for a reward of 2000 yuan per hour. This was a carefully considered offer by Jian Ningxuan; setting a higher price might make most people doubt the authenticity of the situation.
After speeding for more than thirty minutes, Jian Ningxuan finally reached the signal’s range.
Standing on the roadside, gazing at the rolling hills of desolate land that extended endlessly into the night, Jian Ningxuan’s heart plummeted into an icy abyss.
In just forty minutes, how was he supposed to find An Bu in this vast expanse of wasteland?
Less than two thousand meters below Jian Ningxuan, An Bu laid in the coffin, occasionally moving her limbs, pushing, smashing, kicking, trampling, thrusting, and bumping… trying various methods to disturb the coffin. Simultaneously, she aimed to prevent her muscles from stiffening.
She could endure for one or two hours, but if she had to wait for one or two days, or even longer, not only would her body stiffen, but her brain would also become increasingly sluggish. This was why she persistently collected life energy—she didn’t want to become an unaware walking corpse.
“According to the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics’… Fossils of ancient human beings and vertebrate animals buried underground shall not be excavated privately by any unit or individual…” An Bu had just finished reciting mathematical formulas when she began to memorize the cultural relics protection law. When she reached the regulations concerning human fossils, a sudden question occurred to her: If she were buried for hundreds or thousands of years, would she be considered a human fossil, and would a professional archaeological team be dispatched by the country to excavate her?
This scenario of the legendary non-decaying female corpse seemed to fit her perfectly. It could apply for the nth largest wonder in the world, lying in a beautiful glass coffin, being observed and studied from all over the world. There might even be artifact thieves from various places attempting to steal her unique beauty.
Thinking about it, this setting was quite Mary Sue.
An Bu indulged in her daydreams while vigorously kicking and smashing the coffin. The quality of this particular coffin was quite ordinary, and after An Bu’s relentless assault for dozens of minutes, the lid cracked, showering the surroundings in a cloud of dust.
An Bu wondered why those two men bothered to prepare a special coffin. Why not just bury the person directly in the pit? However, her question was quickly answered. In the coffin, she caught a whiff of the unique smell of burial artifacts. Though faint, it was unmistakable. Presumably, this coffin had been used by them to hide treasure in the past. Now that it was no longer needed, they repurposed it to bury a body.
Just as An Bu was pondering this, a familiar scent suddenly permeated from the ground.
It was the warm, comforting life energy emanating from her cat.
“Mr. Jian!” An Bu shouted loudly, vigorously kicking and smashing the coffin lid.
Separated by only four or five meters, Jian Ningxuan couldn’t hear anything.
With dozens of hired helpers, he searched and dug within a radius of one kilometer, completely unaware that An Bu was right under his feet.
As time passed, Jian Ningxuan’s heart grew colder.
Only the last ten minutes remained. For someone with a weaker constitution, there might be no hope left.
An Bu!
Jian Ningxuan silently called out to the desolate darkness. Lost in anxiety and fear, he didn’t even perceive the familiar chill.
“Jian Ningxuan!” An Bu kept shouting. Her voice had become hoarse, but the man above never heard her. He even walked over her head and moved farther away.
“Ah ah ah ah ah… I’m so angry!!!” An Bu pounded her chest and stomped her feet. “Mr. Jian, I’ll give you 15 minutes. If you can’t find me in 15 minutes, go cry holding the corpse. I promise not to pretend to be a corpse until the end!”
However, Mr. Jian continued to walk away heartlessly.
An Bu: Feels like I can’t love anymore…
In the last five minutes, the light in Jian Ningxuan’s eyes gradually dimmed, and his heart was filled with despair. Nevertheless, he refused to give up, searching and digging frantically. His once clean and pretty fingers were now marked with bloody scratches.
At that moment, a faint barking sound reached his ears.
Jian Ningxuan looked up and saw two shadows rushing towards him. When they were about twenty or thirty meters away, he finally recognized them—it was Soldier 1 and his military dog Big Sword, whom he had seen at the pet festival.
“Oh, it’s you,” Soldier 1 said. “I was moving around nearby with Big Sword when suddenly I received a distress message. What happened?”
Jian Ningxuan rushed over, grabbing his shoulder excitedly. “Please, help me find An Bu! She’s been buried alive underground for 90 minutes. Big Sword can surely locate her!”
He vividly remembered that these military dogs always liked to track An Bu, and they succeeded every time.
Upon hearing this, Soldier 1’s expression turned serious. Without hesitation, he immediately gave Big Sword a command.
Big Sword had already smelled the scent of a corpse. As soon as Soldier 1 released the leash, it dashed towards An Bu’s location, sniffed around, and then began vigorously digging with its two front paws.
Jian Ningxuan focused and realized that it was the exact spot where he had just stood!
Ignoring self-blame, Jian Ningxuan grabbed a shovel and started digging furiously, with others joining in to help.
In just a moment, a dark coffin lid appeared before everyone, causing a gasp. After being buried for almost 100 minutes, could the person inside still be alive?
Jian Ningxuan jumped into the pit and exerted force to open a crack in the coffin.
“An Bu!” It was pitch-black inside the coffin, and nothing could be seen. Just as Jian Ningxuan was about to get his phone, he suddenly saw a blood-stained hand slowly reaching out from the coffin.
Seeing this scene, everyone around took a step back in shock. However, Jian Ningxuan was ecstatic. He seized that hand, gently pressed it against his forehead, feeling the familiar touch that nearly brought tears to his eyes.
Alive, his An Bu was still alive…
He knelt in the pit, tightly holding An Bu’s hand.
The surrounding people cheered, picking up their phones to capture this miraculous moment.
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