Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 73

Li Lan, you are so disgusting.

Other people’s mothers are warm harbors that can provide care and comfort to their children.

As soon as he met his mother, Li Zhuiyuan felt that the skin on his face seemed to be peeling off.

They are both mother and son, and fellow patients.

From a certain perspective, they should be the mother and son who know each other best in the world.

But because of this, when the two of them face each other, the disguises they each create become ineffective, but they are extremely dependent on this disguise to survive.

Because they are both so smart.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes.

Over the past six months, his condition has been well controlled, especially in recent months, he has not had any relapses.

He could clearly feel the changes in himself. When facing outsiders, he no longer read their expressions in order to play his role perfectly in front of everyone.

When facing outsiders, he gradually became too lazy to act.

When facing people with whom he is close, he often deliberately does not act, and happily feels every instinctive emotional reaction, even if it is just a little bit.

But this is just a seedling, and he firmly believes that with his careful care, it will grow into a towering tree in the future.

However, the higher the building is, the more severe the fall will be.

It's funny. With just a simple encounter, the "treatment effect" of the past six months has begun to loosen, and what is likely to follow after the loosening is a landslide.

Because when facing Li Lan, all your postures, movements and expressions will be mobilized. Even though you know that disguise is useless, people will subconsciously grab anything around them that can cover their bodies when they are stripped naked.

Fortunately, this is not the time when she answered the phone in Aunt Zhang's store, when she had to endure Li Lan's vicious ridicule while pretending to be a warm mother and son in front of Li Weihan, Cui Guiying and others.

He came to the staff quarters to ask Grandpa Zhang to help him "decipher" the locations of the remaining places. This had nothing to do with whether he was Li Lan's son or whether the mother-son relationship was good. He understood the old professors' habits too well, and it was fun to work with old friends on new research topics together.

So, he no longer needs to perform here with Li Lan, and he doesn't need to care about the eyes of people around him.

This is Li Lan’s social network, not Li Zhuiyuan’s.

The mother opened her arms, but her son never came into her arms.

Li Zhuiyuan calmly looked away. He did not pull Wu Xinhan or Teacher Yan's hands, asking them to take him away from here quickly.

This is his home, and the woman in front of him is his mother. It is not convenient for the two old people to do this. Of course, it should be possible to do it with explanation, deception and a tough attitude, but it is a bit troublesome.

Things can actually be very simple.

For example... running.

However, Li Lan took the lead.

After all, we have been performing together for so many years, and even though we haven't seen each other for so long, our tacit understanding is still there.

When Li Zhuiyuan was thinking of running away, Li Lan had already put it into action.

Everything happened in a flash. When Li Lan found that her son would not throw himself into her arms, she bent over and trotted towards him.

The two actions were connected very quickly, so quickly that outsiders would hardly notice anything wrong.

It's not just the son throwing himself into the arms of the child. It's also normal for the mother to take the initiative to run over and hug the child.

As for the child, it is understandable that he is a little timid because he has not seen his mother for a long time.

Li Zhuiyuan was hugged by Li Lan.

The boy didn't find it strange, because the senior was a senior after all.

There were tears in the corners of Li Lan's eyes, and her expression was just right. She hugged the boy's back with her right hand and held the boy's head with her left hand, and first kissed the boy on the face.

Li Zhuiyuan wanted to laugh. She could actually suppress her physical nausea and continue kissing him.

I feel like I'm being entangled by a deadly beast.

But then, a word Li Lan whispered in his ear after the kiss made Li Zhuiyuan regain the familiar feeling of being dominated and blindly obedient.

Normally, mother and son are each other's weak spots, but they are the knives that stab each other's weak spots.

She said softly:

"Want to know about that seabed?"

Then she turned up the volume:
"Come on, son, come home with mom, and I'll have a good talk with you."

Li Zhuiyuan showed an innocent smile on his face, raised his hands, and took the initiative to hug the "dead man" in front of him.

After a while, Li Lan stood up and apologized to Principal Wu and Teacher Yan, saying that she wanted to stay with her son for a while.

Principal Wu and Teacher Yan were a little flattered by this attitude, and they quickly waved their hands to indicate that there was no need to ask for their opinions.

Several retired professors from Jiangsu nearby invited them to have tea and play chess, and Principal Wu and his colleagues immediately agreed.

Li Lan held Li Zhuiyuan's hand, and the mother and son walked towards home.

Along the way, many old grandfathers and grandmothers took the initiative to say hello, and the mother and son responded naturally.

No matter what questions they asked, the answers and cooperation were very appropriate, and did not slow down the pace at all.

When I opened the gate and walked in, the mother and son were still very affectionate.

Because the yard is very small and it is a townhouse, people in the next yard can still see here while standing on the steps.

Li Lan opened the door to the inner room and walked in.

Li Zhuiyuan came in and closed the door.

The moment the "click" sound was heard, the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.

This is not an illusion.

Because both mother and son lost their humanity.

Li Lan must be hungry. After she sat down at the dining table, she took out a few small bags from the box under the table, then threw one of the bags to the boy sitting opposite her.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the bag, opened it, and found compressed biscuits inside.

He came here right after finishing his exam in the afternoon. He was indeed hungry at the moment, but he didn't want to eat this. He put the biscuits down to save space for his stomach because he had to accompany Principal Wu and others to eat Quanjude Roast Duck in the evening.

He actually didn't like eating greasy duck that much, but now, he was looking forward to it very much.

The boy didn't ask Li Lan how she knew that "that piece of seabed" was related to him, because it was easy to investigate.

He was Zheng Haiyang's classmate. Tan Yunlong had visited Zheng Haiyang's mother in the mental hospital, and he and Tan Wenbin bought tickets to go to the mountain city together.

For a long time at the dinner table, the only sound was the woman chewing.

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head and looked at the thermos placed there. It was covered with a layer of dust and there was no hot water in it.

He looked at the pool again, and there was still red and black color on its edge. When the faucet that had not been used for a long time was turned on, there would be rust inside, and it would take a while to drain it.

Li Lan also just returned home.

Li Zhuiyuan placed his hands on the table and started playing with his fingers. He also recalled several games he had lost to A-li and reviewed them.

Li Lan got up from the table, walked into the study room on the first floor which had the door closed, and then walked out. She had a briefcase in her hand, took out a file bag from it, and threw it to the boy.

Then she picked up the cup, poured a glass of tap water and started drinking.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the file bag and found inside was an investigation report titled "Investigation Report on the 841 Freighter Incident."

It is the ship where Zheng Haiyang’s parents worked.

Li Zhuiyuan read it page by page. Some parts were blacked out, which should be information that even Li Lan could not access.

The report detailed the ship's past history, crew, smuggling history, and the subsequent collective mental disorder of the remaining crew members.

For a long time at the dinner table, the only sound was the boy turning pages.

After reading it, Li Zhuiyuan put away the file bag, closed it with the string, and pushed it to Li Lan.

To Li Zhuiyuan, this report was important but useless because it did not record what happened on the seabed.

Li Lan did not rush to take the document back, but took out another one from her briefcase and placed it in the middle of the dining table, along with this document, a small stack of blank report paper and a pen.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, pulled the second file bag towards himself, untied it, and glanced at the title: "Investigation Report on the Strange Phenomena in Fengdu".

The file has been extracted, it is not very thick, and there are color differences. It should be a summary of multiple eras.

Li Zhuiyuan did not turn to the second page, but put the document aside. Then he stood up again, dragged the stack of report papers in front of him, picked up a pen, and began to write down the underwater experience that Zheng Haiyang's mother had described to him.

Li Lan's secretary Aunt Xu came to ask Zheng Haiyang's mother first, but she left before the results came out.

Therefore, only you know this part.

Li Lan was obviously not a fool like Aunt Xu. After finishing writing, Li Zhuiyuan tore off the two report papers and pushed them to the opposite side.

Then, at the dinner table, the woman took the report paper and the boy took the document, and they read quickly together.

Li Lan finished reading first. She put down the report paper in her hand, closed her eyes, and tapped the table with her fingertips.

Li Zhuiyuan also finished reading it. It turned out that so many strange events had happened in Fengdu’s history. These events only existed sporadically in the locals’ after-dinner conversations and in the vague memories of the elderly.

Time is the best tool to erase traces. Even if we investigate again now, we will not be able to get such a solid and detailed report.

There is a saying that goes, there are only wrong names but no wrong nicknames.

There is a reason why ghost town is called ghost town.

The supernatural phenomena surrounding it seem to follow a unique pattern.

Yin Fuhai's funeral was presided over by Li Zhuiyuan himself, and he witnessed the scene of four ghosts carrying the coffin with his own eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan could not be sure whether Yin Changsheng and the "Daoists" mentioned in Baopuzi were still alive. What was certain now was that the ghost town still had a unique...

It can be called a ritual, a rule, or in a more cold way, it can also be called an operating logic that is invisible to living people.

He has a good memory. If he goes to explore the core of Fengdu Ghost City again after he grows up, the things recorded in this report will save him a lot of time.

Brother Liangliang said that there is not much time left in the ghost town.

Li Lan took out another document from her briefcase and threw it to the boy again.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the file bag and the title of the first page was: "Ji'an 572 Civil Defense Project Investigation Report".

The boy clenched the document tightly, and his previously calm expression could no longer be maintained.

He began to feel scared and confused.

Near Ji'an, civil air defense facilities with severe water leakage, and the Goguryeo ghost encountered during the investigation.

These are the stories that Mr. Luo told them at the night snack stall in Wanzhou County.

Why did Li Lan specifically give this report to me?
"841 Freighter" and "Fengdu Weirdness", these two reports have specific clues pointing to yourself. Either you have come into contact with them or you have been there, and you can find them.

But how did the conversation content while having a midnight snack while drinking soy milk and eating grilled fish spread out?
Did Luo Tingrui tell others?
Or did Luo Tingrui make a report after being investigated?

No, with Luo Tingrui's identity, Li Lan couldn't do that.

Moreover, Brother Liangliang said that they had just finished the Wanzhou project recently, and Engineer Luo had been in charge of the progress of the project.

But if it wasn't leaked by Engineer Luo, then it could have been leaked by someone else who was present at the time.

Xue Liangliang, Tan Wenbin, and Runsheng.

Li Zhuiyuan's breathing began to become rapid and cold sweat oozed from his forehead.

He wanted to analyze who had leaked the information, but the prerequisite for doing so was to abandon all emotional interference and treat everyone equally with the most cold and rational thinking.

Under normal circumstances, this is not a serious matter, and can even be considered a trivial matter.

But the problem is that now he is facing Li Lan, and he is still holding on.

Any small breach at this time may cause a dam burst.

The illness that had not occurred for a long time was gradually becoming uncontrollable.

Li Lan looked at her son's pale face which was in pain. Not only was there no worry on her face, but there was even a slight curve at the corner of her mouth.

It was like looking at a clown who was trying hard to wrap himself in clothes but was still essentially naked.

She spoke. This was the first communication between mother and son after returning home.

Because we share the same disease, I know better how to make you completely sick.

She said:
"The one you trust most closely."

A'li suddenly appeared in Li Zhuiyuan's mind. He had told A'li everything about himself.

In an instant, he calmed down.

Li Lan's eyelids drooped slightly.

The boy spread out his right hand, looking at the scar that had long disappeared, remembering that there were wounds caused by five fingernails piercing there.

That night, the girl opened her palms, saw the scars from her self-harm, and turned away resolutely.

The next day, she sat back inside with her foot on the threshold.

The news was leaked by the person I trust most closely, and Ali told Liu Yumei, and then Liu Yumei reported it to her superiors through her connections?

Logically, it seems to make sense.
The prerequisite is that A-li must be able to speak.

"Hehe...hehehehe..."

Li Zhuiyuan laughed.

I thought the problem was difficult and complicated, but it turned out to be just a matter of one plus one equals how many.

The well-reasoned foreshadowing, the atmosphere when the mother and son are alone together, the sharpest dagger in the world is the lie wrapped in the truth.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head and looked at Li Lan who was sitting opposite him.

You shouldn't have said that much.

What you thought was the straw that broke the camel's back was actually the rope that was passed on.

What you just said actually exposed your trump card. The "Ji'an Civil Defense Project Report" is the probability card you drew out and played.

You cannot make Engineer Luo voluntarily accept the interrogation report, but you can see Engineer Luo's work resume, and through some of his subsequent actions, you can discover that he has a deep obsession with the Goguryeo ghost in the civil defense project.

You should have also seen the report on the Yong State Underground Palace. You think there is a high probability that Engineer Luo will tell us about this matter since you are still his student.

As to whether he really said it, you don’t know.

If I really immerse myself in thinking about who deliberately leaked the news when playing the probability card you play, I would really fall into the self-proving trap.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't rush to speak. He just tore off a piece of report paper and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Then, he picked up the pen again and began to write about "Zhu Changyong". Tan Yunlong should have reported this part long ago, but Tan Yunlong did not know about the turtle crawling out of the mouths of Zheng Haiyang and his family of three.

After pushing the written report paper to Li Lan, Li Zhuiyuan picked up the "Ji'an 572 Civil Defense Project Investigation Report".

That’s right, Mr. Luo said that he had reported it, but his superiors did not give him any feedback because the “dream” reported by Mr. Luo seemed very ordinary among all the reports.

Before Engineer Luo and his team arrived, and before water seeped into the project, some people had already died.

After Luo Gong and his team arrived, there were quite a few people who were left inside and could not get out. Luo Gong himself was extremely lucky to be able to come out alive.

Something was really dug out in the mountain. It was not a tomb, an altar, or an underground palace, but...

The concluding report in the last section is missing.

It’s not that Li Lan kept it secret, but that Li Lan didn’t know about it, or rather, she couldn’t bring the complete report home.

But it doesn’t really matter whether you read the conclusion report or not, because it is still a guess based on the method of elimination.

He will go there by himself later. He is not interested in Goguryeo culture, but he is very curious about Luo Gong's "white moonlight".

When Mr. Luo was talking about this experience that night, he could tell that Mr. Luo had concealed some information. Now, combined with this report, his judgment has been further confirmed.

Okay, deal done.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up and left his seat. Instead of walking out the door, he walked to the table, picked up the kettle, went to the sink to rinse it, then filled it with water and plugged it back in.

While the water was boiling, the boy picked up the rag on the table and washed it, then carefully wiped the stains on the edge of the sink. Finally, he washed the towel again and folded it by the sink.

At this time, the water in the kettle also boiled.

Li Zhuiyuan walked towards Li Lan and reached out to pick up the cup that Li Lan had previously used to drink tap water.

Li Lan kept watching his actions with a calm expression.

But her hands were already hidden in the sleeves of her windbreaker.

Li Zhuiyuan poured the boiling water into the cup, then picked up the cup, placed it in front of himself and blew gently with his mouth:
"Huh...huh...huh..."

Finally, the boy handed the cup to Li Lan, with an innocent and caring smile on his face, and said crisply:
"Mom, drink some hot water."

Li Lan's body began to tremble slightly, her breathing became rapid, and the veins on her neck were exposed.

Come on,

Disgusting each other.

(End of this chapter)