False evidence

Chapter 49 Wolf Head Mark
Although the corpse was not rotten, its stiff texture and strong stench made me feel numb all over and had difficulty breathing.

But the sense of impending danger made me disregard everything and desperately climb up the corpse.

When I climbed to the top and faced the corpse head-on, my fear reached its limit.

However, just as I gritted my teeth and prepared for my next move, the corpse suddenly raised its head, met my eyes, and actually let out two cold laughs.

I shuddered with fear, but thankfully my will to survive kept me from letting go.

"I don't know why you died here, but don't try to drag me down with you!"

I gritted my teeth and muttered something under my breath, then stretched out my arm and reached for the pile of timber on one side.

Then he spread his legs apart, braced himself against the piles of wood on either side, and continued to climb upwards with great difficulty.

As I breathed heavily, I caught a whiff of smoke, and my heart sank.

The thing I least wanted to happen, still happened...

In my early years, I went with my grandfather to a mountain charcoal-making workshop to treat patients.

There, I witnessed the charcoal-making process firsthand.

Like all industries, charcoal making requires a lot of skill.

The most crucial step in the charcoal-making process is stacking the wood.

I clearly remember an old master craftsman at the charcoal yard telling me with great pride that he was the best at stacking timber in the yard. He also said that the first key to stacking timber was to leave one piece unstuck every four pieces.

As the name suggests, it is a piece of wood with a diameter of four inches. A one-inch gap must be left between the pieces of wood to ensure that an appropriate amount of air is introduced so that the wood can be burned into charcoal without completely burning into ashes.

I had already realized that the ancient well was not a well at all.

After taking measurements, we were horrified to discover that this place is very likely to contain three... or even more than three large charcoal kilns connected to each other!

The purpose of a charcoal kiln is, of course, to burn charcoal.

Although it's unclear why there's a kiln like this in the mountains, the wood is neatly piled up, and it's only one step away from successfully firing charcoal.

If someone throws fuel into the ignition point, even if the cave is not sealed, we will have very little chance of escaping.

Perhaps we could collapse all the timber, but even if we weren't crushed underneath, we would still choke to death from the smoke in the almost completely enclosed space.

The kiln is located in the mountains and may not necessarily need to be lit by humans, but that thunderous sound just now was most likely struck at the kiln opening, igniting the flames.

There was nowhere to retreat now; the secondary kiln they were in had no other way out. The only way to escape was to reach the very top.

That's the passageway for opening the kiln and taking out the charcoal after successful firing; it's the weakest point in this kiln...

"I'm catching it... I'm catching it... cough cough cough..." Meng Chao coughed repeatedly, choked by the fumes.

With my life hanging in the balance, I didn't have time to look down. I gritted my teeth, climbed to the top, pulled out a piece of wood, and smashed the kiln roof with all my might.

After only a few blows, my footing suddenly gave way, the timber on one side collapsed, and I lost my support and fell from above.

In his haste, he reached out haphazardly and felt something touch him. Without thinking twice, he immediately grabbed it.

But that didn't last long; it only slightly slowed the fall before continuing its descent and crashing to the ground.

The only lucky thing was that the landing point was not bad.

The moment I fell right in the middle, Meng Chao pulled Pearl over and then threw himself on top of us.

The wood used for making charcoal had certain specifications, so it wouldn't crush or bury us alive, but it did leave Meng Chao with a head injury.

After the chaos subsided, I covered my mouth and nose, looked up, and felt a wave of despair wash over me.

I still couldn't break open the kiln roof, and now it was impossible for me to go up there.

"Twenty-one... Let go quickly! Cough cough cough..." Meng Chao coughed repeatedly while covering his wound.

I glanced down in a daze and was startled.

In the instant I fell, I had actually grabbed onto that hanging corpse. Judging from its clothing, it was definitely not a modern person. Along with those weasels, I had no idea how long they had been hanging there. Although they weren't rotting, they couldn't withstand such force; I tore their necks off and they fell down as well.

At this moment, I'm still holding that headless corpse in my arms!
I numbly looked up, then glanced at the flames leaping into the air beside me, and felt a deep sense of resentment. I abruptly pushed the corpse aside, scrambled to my feet, and called out:
"Come here quickly, move the wood to the side!"

At this moment, Meng Chao and Zhenzhu also tore off their red cloths. Meng Chao came over to help with a flushed face, but Zhenzhu remained unmoved.

Seeing that she was just looking up, I couldn't be bothered to pay her any more attention.

After a moment, she suddenly said, "Don't bother!"

Meng Chao snapped, "Stop talking so much nonsense and come help!"

Pearl coughed. "We won't die."

As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a slight chill on the back of my head.

Suddenly stopping in his tracks, he looked up and saw water trickling down from the top of the kiln.

I was overjoyed: "After all, my efforts weren't in vain."

Soon, the water flow became denser and denser, and finally, with a sudden collapse, a hole about a foot square was revealed.

I initially thought the knocking had worked, but the moment the cave entrance collapsed, I saw several furry, pointed heads flash by!

“Weasel…” I murmured.

Was it not the rain that washed the kiln roof open, but those weasels that dug the opening?
The heavy rain finally came down, pouring in through the openings in the kiln roof and quickly suppressing the smoke.

What's eerie is that as soon as the cave entrance opened, the corpses of the large yellow weasels, as well as the headless corpses, all turned into skeletons in an instant.

After the fire died down, the three men removed the wood, found the main kiln, and finally escaped the kiln by passing through the ignition port.

Looking at the charred firewood at the kiln entrance, struck by lightning, Meng Chao and I stared at each other in the rain, both feeling as if we had been transported to another world.

I asked Pearl, "What are you looking for if you let us in?"

Meng Chao moved his lips, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.

Pearl looked at me with that strange look again, and after a while, shook her head.

Seeing that she didn't speak, I didn't press her further. I wiped the rain off my face and told Meng Chao to walk back.

It was already evening when we returned to Bamboo Forest Villa.

As soon as Gu Haitao saw us, he rushed over to greet us: "Where have you been? I thought you..."

"Did you think we'd slipped away?" Meng Chao glanced at him sideways.

"not me……"

Meng Chao and I ignored him and went straight back to our room.

"Go take a shower first, I'll bandage your wound." I said as I pulled off my T-shirt.

Meng Chao suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

I turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Don't move."

He walked up behind me, grabbed my shoulders, looked at me for a while, and asked me with a gloomy face, "What is this? Giving up on yourself?"

"What nonsense is this?" I asked, baffled.

"Hey, that tattoo! When did you get it? Are you really not planning to go to school?"

I was stunned for a moment, then pushed his hand away and quickly walked into the bathroom. I turned to face the mirror and was shocked by what I saw.

Near my right shoulder on my back, I was surprised to find a hideous wolf head mark that had appeared out of nowhere!

(End of this chapter)