For thirty years, he has roamed the Northeast, his divine might overwhelming all immortals under hea

"Thirteen, is everything you said true?"

My mother put down her bowl and chopsticks, her face showing a mixture of doubt and worry.

"Mother, would I lie to you?"

"Dad, if you ask me, you should listen to Thirteen on this matter."

"Oh, stop worrying about things that don't concern you. I have my own plans."

My father finished the last drop of his liquor, grabbed his pipe, and went out to the yard to smoke.

"Mom, my dad told me that he's quitting when Third Brother comes back."

"Sigh, that's pretty much how your father's life is going to be..."

My mother was talking as she cleared away the dishes.

I went into the yard and sat down next to my father.

"Dad, this time when I went to the county town with Brother Sanlu, I was thinking that once we've saved up some money, we'll move to the city."

"The city is great, it has everything."

"I'm not going. I've farmed all my life, what would I do in the city? I don't even know anyone there."

"The countryside is still the best!"

As my father spoke, he emptied the tobacco from the pipe and then put the pipe away.

"Thirteen, in your father's opinion, if this winery is built, our Zhujiakan will become rich."

"Perhaps everyone could become a millionaire."

"When that time comes, your mother and I will plant more land and find you a suitable wife."

When my dad was speaking, I noticed that his face was full of anticipation for the future.

Perhaps it was because I went from being a fool to a normal person, or perhaps someone invested in building a factory, that he, as a farmer, felt the wheels of time constantly moving forward.

It made him unconsciously look forward to the future.

My father and I sat in the yard until the moon was high in the sky before we went back inside to rest.

But when I got back to my room, I couldn't fall asleep at all.

I originally thought the incident at the dilapidated temple was a recent occurrence, but Cuiping's words clearly told me that the temple had been problematic for a long time.

However, rumors of the temple being haunted persisted, so over time, no one went near it and no one noticed the problem.

But things are not so easy now.

The site of the dilapidated temple has been allocated to a winery, and construction is underway with workers working overtime. The foundation has already been dug to a depth of about six or seven meters, and it seems there's no sign of it stopping.

But the more I thought about it, the more something felt off.

It's the same old problem.

Li Ergou almost lost his life when he dug so deep, but now, after digging for so long and so deep at the construction site, nothing has happened.

The more I thought about it, the less I could sleep, so I decided to get up and go check on the construction site.

Just as my hand touched the flashlight, there was a knock on my door.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

"Thirteen, thirteen."

"Are you home, Thirteen?"

"Something terrible has happened!"

The knocking on the door was very urgent, and the shouts were choked with sobs.

I didn't even have time to put on my clothes; I jumped out of the window shirtless.

I flung open the door, and the person who entered was someone I didn't recognize.

But at that moment, my father shouted.

"Xiao Liu, what's up? It's the middle of the night."

Obviously, my parents were also woken up by the knocking.

"Brother Li, hurry and let Thirteen come with me to the construction site, there's been an accident there."

When I heard about the accident at the construction site, my heart jumped into my throat.

My dad also had a serious expression.

"Tell me slowly, what happened?"

"What happened?"

"Oh dear, I don't understand what happened either. It's been hot these past few days, and I probably ate too much watermelon. I got up in the middle of the night to pee, and when I was walking back, I saw a figure standing next to the foundation."

"Who would go there in the middle of the night?"

"I called out a few times, but no one responded, so I took my flashlight and went over."

"I watched as that person jumped down. It was a foundation pit that was 6 or 7 meters deep. He would have died if he had jumped down."

"I ran a few steps and looked down at the foundation with my flashlight, but there was nothing there, not a single person. But just then, I felt someone behind me. Before I could turn around, that person pushed me, and I fell straight down."

"Then I discovered that there were two other people under the foundation, both of whom were fellow workers who came with me."

"And next to them, there was a hole about 3 meters square that had been dug out. Next to the hole, there were several pieces of gold. I'm sure they were gold."

"I sensed something was wrong, so I quickly crawled out to find you guys. Brother Li, please let Thirteen come with me to the construction site."

"Xiao Liu, don't worry, Thirteen, let's hurry. Sanlv isn't here, we have to go check on him, just in case something serious has happened."

I stood aside, calmly watching my dad and Xiao Liu.

"You fell into that 6 or 7-meter-deep foundation pit without any warning. How did you manage to climb out?"

"I………"

Xiao Liu was taken aback by my question and couldn't answer it for a moment.

My dad realized it too.

"Yeah, Xiao Liu, how did you climb up here?"

"I...I..."

"There's only one possibility: you're dead."

"What... I... am... already... dead..."

After Xiao Liu finished speaking, his body began to become unreal. He tried his best to grab my father's arm, but when his hand touched my father's arm, it just passed through quickly.

"I...this...how is this possible..."

Xiao Liu stared wide-eyed at his hands in disbelief, then disappeared from my and my father's sight amidst astonishment and resentment.

My father froze for a moment, then sighed.

"Why………"

"Dad, it's late, so don't go. Stay home and keep Mom company. I'll go check on her."

"Thirteen, you... be careful!"

My father wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it.

"Um!"

I went back inside, put on my clothes, grabbed a flashlight, and rushed to the construction site.

I carried a flashlight. The dirt road under my feet was icy cold from the night dew, and it crunched under my feet. The barking of dogs behind me grew fainter and fainter, while the outline of the construction site in front of me became clearer and clearer in the moonlight.

That place, which was usually bustling with the roar of machines and the noise of people, was now as quiet as a graveyard, not even a chirp of insects could be heard.

When I arrived at the construction site entrance, the crooked wooden door was ajar. When I pushed it open, it made a strange "creaking" sound, which was particularly eerie in the dead of night.

I didn't go towards the foundation pit first, but went straight to the construction site dormitory.

The dormitories were temporary tarpaulin shacks, arranged in three rows. The plastic sheeting covering the windows rattled in the wind, and the inside was dark, with only a few rooms emitting faint kerosene lamp light.

I walked to the easternmost dormitory room, pushed open the door, and was hit by a mixture of sweat, smoke, and mildew.

The large communal sleeping area inside the room was crammed with about a dozen people, and half of the beds were empty, with blankets rolled up haphazardly, as if the owners had left in a hurry.

The remaining few people were sleeping like logs, snoring so loudly that they didn't even wake up when I pushed the door open.

"Arise! Arise!"

I shouted at the top of my lungs, and my voice echoed in the cramped dormitory.

No one answered.

I took two steps forward and nudged the man closest to me. He rolled over, muttered, "Stop messing around, it's not dawn yet," and went back to sleep.

I panicked, grabbed a metal bucket from the doorway, and kicked it to the ground with a loud bang. The bucket rolled several times on the concrete floor, making a screeching sound.

This finally worked; one after another, the people in the dormitory woke up, rubbing their eyes and cursing.

"Who is it? Staying up so late at night, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"It's Thirteen? What brings you here?"

One of the workers who recognized me squinted to get a better look at me and asked in confusion.

I didn't have time to chat with them, so I got straight to the point.

"Wake up, everyone! Check how many people are missing from your dorm!"

Upon hearing this, everyone forgot their anger and got out of bed to count the number of people.

"Wang Laosan isn't here!"

"Li Erzhu has also disappeared!"

"And Fatty Zhang and the guy in the bed next to him, they're all gone!"

Several people shouted at once, their voices gradually turning into panic.

My heart sank. The three or four figures I saw over the foundation pit, plus the two people Xiao Liu mentioned below, plus Xiao Liu himself, made the numbers match up.

"Don't panic!"

I pressed my hand down.

"You guys hurry up and check the other dorms, wake everyone up, and find out exactly how many people are missing! The rest of you, come with me!"

After saying that, I turned around and ran towards the foundation pit, with several workers following closely behind.

I hadn't run far when I heard a gasp from behind me.

"Thirteen! Look over there!"

I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw another figure standing at the edge of the foundation pit, his back to us, motionless. The moonlight shone on him, casting a long shadow that looked particularly eerie.

"not good!"

I shouted and sped up my pace.

Before we could even get close, the figure suddenly leaned forward and jumped into the six- or seven-meter-deep pit without hesitation, without making a sound.

"It's over!"

One of the workers behind me almost collapsed to the ground, his legs buckling.

"Oh no, what happened?!"

I didn't stop; I ran and shouted at them.

"You guys hurry up and go find the village officials! Tell them to notify the police station and the county authorities! Quickly!"

The workers didn't dare to delay and turned to run back into the village, their footsteps fading into the night.

I came to the edge of the foundation pit alone, took a deep breath, and shone my flashlight down into the pit.

The scene at the bottom of the pit made me gasp.

Seven or eight corpses lay haphazardly at the bottom of the pit, some face down, some face up, their eyes wide open, filled with fear and resentment.

Sure enough, there was a hole about three meters square next to them. The soil around the hole was freshly dug out, and the edges were still neat.

Beside the cave entrance, several pieces of yellowish material lay scattered about, gleaming brightly in the flashlight beam—the gold that Xiao Liu had mentioned.

I suppressed my shock and carefully observed the situation at the bottom of the pit.

The foundation pit was dug extremely deep, and the surrounding walls were straight and steep, with no place to climb.

Why would these people jump down for no reason? And what's inside that hole?

As I was thinking, I suddenly heard a series of chaotic footsteps and voices behind me.

Looking back, I saw village officials leading several villagers, hurrying towards us, followed by several militiamen carrying hunting rifles.

"Thirteen! What happened?"

The village party secretary ran ahead and shouted to me from afar.

I pointed to the bottom of the pit.

"Secretary, look for yourself. Seven or eight people have already died. They were all construction workers, and people are still jumping into the pit."

The village secretary's face turned pale instantly. He leaned closer to the pit and looked down, then gasped in shock, his legs trembling.

"My goodness! What...what's going on?!"

"Quickly have someone cordon off the construction site and prevent anyone from getting close! Send two more people to the county town to summon the local police station and county leaders! The sooner the better!"

The village party secretary dared not delay and immediately arranged for someone to handle the matter.

Not long after, the sound of car horns grew louder as several jeeps and trucks pulled up at the construction site entrance. Police officers from the county public security bureau and leaders from the county government arrived.

In an instant, the construction site was brightly lit, with dozens of high-powered searchlights illuminating the foundation pit as if it were daytime.

Police cordoned off the area, keeping bystanders out, while forensic experts and technicians went down to the bottom of the pit to begin autopsies and on-site investigations.

I stood by the pit and told the county leaders and the police chief what had happened. I recounted everything from when Xiao Liu knocked on the door at night, to when I discovered that Xiao Liu was a ghost, and then to everything I saw when I arrived at the construction site.

The leaders' faces grew increasingly grim, especially when they heard me say that Xiao Liu was a ghost; their eyes held extremely complex emotions.

"Comrade Li Shisan, you said that the dead Xiao Liu has become a ghost and is coming to find you?"

An official from the Cultural Bureau came over.

I nodded.

"That's right, that's exactly it."

Just then, a forensic doctor at the bottom of the pit suddenly shouted.

"Chief! Come quick!"

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly gathered around. Someone brought a ladder, and several leaders and police officers climbed down the ladder to the bottom of the pit.

I climbed down as well, and as soon as I landed, I smelled a strong stench of decay and blood.

The forensic doctor squatted down next to a corpse and pointed to the corpse's neck.

"Look, these people all have a small wound on their necks, like they were bitten by something. And it seems like a lot of their blood has been drained."

A thought struck me, and I leaned closer to take a closer look. Sure enough, each corpse had a small, dark red gash on its neck. The wounds weren't large, but they were quite deep.

"What... what's going on?"

The village party secretary was so frightened that his voice changed tone.

"Could it be that we've encountered some kind of monster?"

The police chief frowned and waved his hand.

"Don't talk nonsense! This is a new society; we should trust science!"

But no sooner had he finished speaking than a gasp of surprise came from the edge of the pit.

"Oh no! Someone else is going to jump!"

We quickly looked up and saw a construction worker who had somehow broken through the cordon and was standing at the edge of the pit, his eyes glazed over and his face expressionless, walking step by step toward the edge of the pit.

"Stop him!"

The police chief shouted.