Episode 20: The Truth of the Azure Coffin

The off-road vehicle’s engine roared as it surged up the sand dune, the tires kicking up sand like a golden fountain.

Lu Chen gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white from the strain. The windshield was spiderwebbed with cracks from the debris he had dodged earlier while evading the sand crystal flares. Through the fissures, a plume of yellow dust rose in the distance—the S-Tribe transport convoy was just ahead. Four armored vehicles guarded a black truck in the center; its cargo bed was covered by a thick canvas, revealing a silhouette unmistakably shaped like a coffin.

"Two kilometers to go!" Su Qing’s voice was breathless. She held her binoculars, the lenses reflecting the harsh sunlight. "They’re accelerating toward the Temple. It looks like they want to deliver this thing before the sacrificial ritual begins!"

Old Dao sat in the passenger seat, spinning his bone blade rapidly. The notches in the blade shimmered coldly in the sun. "This blue-light sarcophagus has been hidden for so long. What kind of treasure is inside? It’s worth Williams dispatching half the Blood Alliance to escort it."

Lu Chen didn’t speak, instead jerking the steering wheel hard. The off-road vehicle veered off course, charging toward the dunes on the flank of the convoy. The engine emitted an agonizing growl. In the backseat, Chen Yu raised a rocket launcher, his cheek pressed against the cold tube, his breathing trembling. "Brother Chen, are we really going to force our way in? They have armored vehicles!"

"We have to." Lu Chen’s voice was as cold as ice, and the sand-scar on his right index finger suddenly began to burn. "This thing is the key to unraveling the sacrificial ritual. Alicia’s intelligence can’t be wrong."

Suddenly, Alicia’s voice crackled through the communicator, distorted by static and breaking in and out: "The coffin... is... Mother... Be careful... the necklace..."

Before she could finish, the signal was jammed and cut off. But those words exploded in Lu Chen’s mind like a thunderclap—Alicia’s mother? The S-Tribe princess who was rumored to have been accidentally killed by X-Tribe radicals?

"Prepare for the assault!" Lu Chen roared, slamming his foot on the accelerator. The vehicle dove down the backside of the dune like a cheetah pouncing on a flock of sheep.

The convoy clearly hadn't expected an ambush; the turrets of the armored vehicles were still slowly turning. Chen Yu seized the chance and pulled the trigger. A rocket trailed white smoke, whistling through the air and striking the tracks of the last armored vehicle with precision. With a deafening "boom," the vehicle was instantly paralyzed, its tread falling off like a dead snake.

"Nice shot!" Old Dao yelled, pulling the pin on a grenade and hurling it toward the second armored vehicle. Amidst the flames of the explosion, he leaped from the car, his bone blade in hand, the sand splashing beneath his feet as if he were stepping on a scorching iron plate.

Lu Chen followed closely behind, his Totem Blade carving golden light through the air, parrying incoming bullets. He lunged directly at the black truck in the center. The S-Tribe soldier in the driver’s cabin had just poked his head out when Lu Chen sliced through his wrist, sending him tumbling out of the vehicle with a scream.

"Chen Yu! Cover Su Qing while she opens the coffin!" Lu Chen kicked open the back of the truck. The moment the canvas slid away, a blinding blue light rushed out.

It was a crystal coffin half a meter high, covered in spiderweb-like cracks. Inside lay the mummified remains of a woman. She wore a tattered white robe, her skin dried like the bark of an ancient tree, yet eerily, it had not decayed. Embedded in her chest was a blue crystal the size of a fist, radiating a steady, spectral blue glow—a bone core, purer and more massive than any fragment they had seen before.

The most chilling sight was the mummy’s neck, adorned with a silver necklace. The pendant was a silver bird with spread wings, identical to the one Alicia always wore, down to the exact curvature of the wings.

Su Qing, hands trembling, put on her gloves and pulled out a DNA testing device. The moment the sampling needle pierced the mummy’s skin, the instrument emitted a frantic beeping sound. The genetic sequence on the screen scrolled wildly before freezing on a line of red text: "Match: 99.99%. Relationship: Mother and daughter."

"It’s her... it really is her mother..." Su Qing’s voice trembled with disbelief, and she nearly dropped the device. "Alicia’s mother didn’t die at all! Williams turned her into a container for the bone core!"

Old Dao suddenly let out an exclamation. He pointed to the mummy’s wrist, where a shallow scar was visible. "This is the mark of the Sand Keepers! Back then, only those who had undergone the Totem Baptism could leave this mark. Alicia’s mother... was a Sand Keeper?"

Lu Chen’s heart sank. He recalled the black patterns on Alicia’s waist and her ability to effortlessly modify infrasonic frequencies—if her mother was a Sand Keeper, then the blood flowing through her veins wasn't just the royal lineage of the S-Tribe, but also the genes of the Sand Keepers.

This was Williams’s true goal! He needed a host who possessed both bloodlines—one capable of enduring the energy of the bone core while simultaneously commanding the power of the Sand Keepers.

"Get the bone core out!" Lu Chen’s voice was heavy with unprecedented gravity. He drew his Totem Blade and aimed it at the cracks in the crystal coffin. "We can't let it keep absorbing the mummy's energy!"

Just as the blade touched the coffin, a burst of manic laughter erupted in the distance, sharp and grating like grinding metal. "Too late! Lu Chen, you truly didn't disappoint me!"

From the depths of the sandstorm, a tall figure slowly emerged. His black cloak whipped in the wind—it was Williams. His mechanical arm gleamed coldly, and he was followed by a dozen Sand-Blood warriors, their sand-crystal-encrusted faces twisted into eerie smiles.

"Did you think intercepting the coffin was a coincidence?" Williams’s mechanical eye glowed with intense red light as he stared at the mummy in the crystal coffin. "I arranged all of this! That girl Alicia is too stupid; she really thought she could fool me? Her mother’s genetic sequence was already transmitted to her through that necklace!"

He suddenly pointed toward the direction where Alicia was hiding. Behind a dune, a slender figure slowly walked out, her face as pale as paper, the silver bird necklace around her neck glowing with a mournful light in the blue radiance.

"Now, the second host has finally arrived." Williams’s laughter made the sand tremble. He suddenly raised his mechanical arm, his palm aimed at Alicia. "As long as I absorb her bloodline, the bone core will fully awaken. When that happens, forget about the Sand Keepers—even the gods of the desert will have to obey me!"

Alicia suddenly raised her head, tears mixing with the sand on her cheeks. "You knew all along that my mother was a Sand Keeper? You deliberately turned her into a container just to wait for me to grow up?"

"Clever girl." Williams licked his lips, his sand-crystal claws extending three centimeters with a cold glint. "Your mother wanted to defect with the bone core back then; how could I let her succeed? Turning her into a container served two purposes: it stabilized the bone core’s energy and cultivated the perfect host. It was killing two birds with one stone."

The bone core inside the crystal coffin suddenly pulsed violently. The blue light flared, and the skin on the mummy’s chest began to peel away, revealing black, coiled curse marks beneath. Like countless tiny snakes, they began to crawl along the surface of the coffin toward Alicia.

"It’s calling to you, my dear niece," Williams’s smile was savage and terrifying. "Come here and let your mother’s bone core complete its final evolution within you."

Alicia’s body moved forward against her will. The silver bird necklace suddenly split open, and half a jade pendant fell out—it fit perfectly with the piece Lu Chen carried in his pocket. The moment the pendant touched the blue light, it erupted in a blinding golden glow, blocking the black curse marks in mid-air.

"So, you had a contingency plan all along," Lu Chen realized. Alicia’s mother had long ago foreseen this day, hiding the token of the Sand Keepers within the necklace.

Williams’s face turned livid. "Attack! Kill them all! I must have that bone core!"

The Sand-Blood warriors surged forward like a tide, their sand-crystal armor shimmering with bloodthirsty light in the blue glow. Lu Chen shielded Alicia, his Totem Blade and Old Dao’s bone blade lighting up simultaneously. Gold and blue light collided on the sand, showering the ground with sparks.

The mummy in the crystal coffin suddenly opened her eyes. There were no pupils in her sockets, only pure blue light. Her lips curved slightly upward, as if she were smiling, or perhaps weeping. The bone core in her chest beat faster and faster, emitting a low, rhythmic hum, as if whispering a secret that had been imprisoned for over a decade.

In the distance, toward the Temple, the faint sound of bells began to toll—the sacrificial ritual had begun.

Lu Chen looked at the charging Sand-Blood warriors and then at the pale-faced Alicia behind him. He gripped his Totem Blade tightly. He knew this battle wasn't just about fighting for the bone core; it was about uncovering a truth that had been buried for too long—why did Alicia’s mother possess both the royal bloodline of the S-Tribe and the mark of the Sand Keepers?

The truth behind the blue-light sarcophagus was clearly far more complex than they had imagined.