I work as a security guard at a cemetery, and I overhear the dead chatting about getting rich quick.

When the cold air rushed out of the old drainage culvert, Lin Ye subconsciously shrank his neck.

That wasn't just ordinary cold.

The cemetery is cold at night, especially when the wind picks up, making people shiver.

The cold here is different.

It smells like it came from old wood, wet mud, or rotten coffin boards, carrying a musty smell that hasn't seen the light for a long time.

Xing Shanhe's men went down first.

Two tomb raiders, secured by safety ropes and with their headlamps lowered, walked along the sloping passage.

Luo Xiaohu stood guard at the cave entrance, watching the gas detector.

"Oxygen levels are normal."

"No hydrogen sulfide."

"No alarm was triggered for combustible gas."

Xing Shanhe nodded.

"Under the light fixtures."

Several portable lamps were handed in.

The cold white light gradually spread deeper into the distance.

Lin Ye then realized that it wasn't a drainpipe at all.

It was a dilapidated passage that had been flooded and blocked off by people.

The brick surfaces on both sides are mottled, with soil exposed in some places, and white mold growing in the brick seams.

The ground was slippery, covered with a thin layer of mud.

Lin Ye glanced at it and felt a tightness in his calves.

Master Lai, holding a thermos, stood in front of the cave entrance and suddenly took a deep breath.

He opened his eyes, which had been half-closed.

"Walk."

Lin Ye looked at him.

"Master Lai, your enthusiasm makes me seem like an outsider."

Master Lai smiled.

"It's normal to be nervous the first time you go down."

"Anyone would be nervous the first time they were kidnapped and taken to a tomb."

"Don't put it that way," Master Lai said slowly. "This is an invitation."

Lin Ye glanced at the safety rope around his waist, then at Xing Shanhe, who was staring at him.

"Your invitation is pretty hardcore."

Master Lai ignored him and went inside first.

Lin Ye was forced to follow.

Xiaoman stayed half a step behind him.

Her shoulders hadn't fully recovered, but her steps were steady, and her eyes kept scanning both sides of the passage.

Chen Jin and Bai Yuan didn't get too close, but they always stayed outside her range.

This location is annoying.

It won't stop her from leaving, nor will it give her a chance to suddenly save someone.

Su Tinglan walked further back.

She didn't get too close.

They weren't too far away.

Lin Ye could feel her gaze occasionally falling on him.

But he didn't turn around.

I don't want to watch it.

I don't want to right now, at least not right now.

The passageway wasn't steeply sloping downwards, but it was quite long.

After walking about ten meters, the construction noise outside was swallowed up.

All I could hear was the sound of footsteps stomping through mud, the occasional soft thud of equipment hitting the wall, and the faint beeping of the gas detector.

Luo Xiaohu muttered a curse under his breath.

"This flavor is way too strong."

Xing Shanhe lowered his voice.

"Speak less."

"I'm just expressing my feelings."

"Don't feel sentimental down there."

Luo Xiaohu shut up.

After walking a few more meters, the passage suddenly widened.

As the light swept across the area, Lin Ye paused for a moment.

In front of us was a dug-out interlayer.

It doesn't resemble a complete tomb chamber; it's more like a pile of junk that was haphazardly buried in the soil, and was later forcibly cut open by construction workers.

The broken coffin was stuck diagonally in the mud.

Some of the coffin lids had rotted away, leaving only the black borders.

Broken bricks and tiles were scattered everywhere.

Several wooden stakes left over from early construction stand crookedly against the wall, covered with tattered, blackened cloth.

There were rusty nails on the ground.

There are also several broken tombstones from the Republican era.

Half of the stele was buried in the mud, and the characters were swollen from being soaked in water, so only a few surnames could be barely made out.

There were white skeletal remains in the corner.

not much.

But under the light, it has a strong presence.

Lin Ye felt a wave of nausea after reading this.

It's not that he hasn't seen a tomb before.

He works the night shift at the cemetery every day.

But at least the graves in the cemetery are quiet, with tombstones and designated spots.

This place is different.

This place is like a pile of forgotten, moved, demolished, and carelessly discarded posthumous ruins.

Luo Xiaohu saw it too, and his face turned a little pale.

"Brother Shan, is this first level a mass grave?"

Xing Shanhe squatted down, picked up a small piece of broken brick, looked at it, and threw it back.

"Modern and contemporary sandwich layer".

"Not the main tomb?"

"No," Xing Shanhe said, "it was brought up later."

Master Lai stood at the entrance to the mezzanine, his drowsiness lessening considerably.

He raised his hand and touched the soil layer by the wall.

A little bit of damp mud was wiped off with the fingertip.

"There's a mass grave up there; the things are down there."

Lin Ye's heart sank when he heard this.

The old map that Ningzhi found was correct.

Before the park was built, Qingshan was indeed a chaotic graveyard.

This chaotic graveyard is merely a layer covering something deeper inside.

Xiaoman asked in a low voice, "Can you still walk?"

Lin Ye nodded.

"good."

He said that, but his ears were already starting to throb.

It doesn't hurt.

The sound is too chaotic.

When we first entered the cave, it was only faintly visible.

Once we reached this mezzanine level, the noise suddenly increased.

There were murmurs from the elderly.

There was the sound of a woman crying.

I have a persistent cough.

There was also a lot of inaudible background noise, like a room full of people talking at the same time through a wall.

Those sounds weren't directed at Lin Ye.

They didn't know he was there.

They had no idea that anyone could hear them.

They were simply stirred up by the movement below, like old bubbles that had sunk in the mud, rising one by one.

"They really dug it up."

"They've dug it open again..."

"Don't go down."

"Those two workers, they died here, didn't they?"

Lin Ye suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Ma Changshun.

Yao Guanggen.

The two names Ning Zhi found immediately popped into her mind.

A drilling worker.

A demolition worker.

The records suddenly disappeared after the seventh day of construction.

I did not resign.

There was no work-related injury.

It looks like it was erased from the Qingshan project.

The voices of the dead underground now say that those two workers died here.

Lin Ye felt a chill creep down his back.

Master Lai suddenly turned around.

"What did you hear?"

Lin Ye raised his eyes.

Master Lai looked at him, his eyes brightening considerably.

That kind of brightness is uncomfortable.

Like a person who has been starving for a long time smelling the aroma of food.

Lin Ye twitched the corner of his mouth.

"We hear the voices of your lawbreakers and criminals."

Luo Xiaohu couldn't help but shrug his shoulders again.

Xing Shanhe didn't look at him this time.

Master Lai laughed.

"Still so stubborn."

Master Lai looked at him but did not press him for answers.

He simply raised his hand and patted the thermos.

"It's alright, there's plenty of time ahead."

Lin Ye's heart sank.

He hates the phrase "there's plenty of time" the most.

Especially when it comes from the kidnapper.

Xing Shanhe's men began cleaning the interlayer.

They didn't touch the obvious skeletons, but cleared a path for people to walk through.

One of the tomb raiders used pliers to pick up a few rusty nails and put them into a marking bag.

Another person took a picture with a camera.

The movements were very professional.

They didn't resemble ordinary tomb raiders; they were more like an archaeological team in engineering uniforms.

Lin Ye felt increasingly uncomfortable looking at it.

He asked Xiaoman in a low voice, "Are you still able to fight?"

Xiaoman looked ahead.

"able."

"To what extent?"

"Take down two of them."

"and then?"

"He was knocked down by that old man Lai."

Lin Ye: "..."

She spoke so honestly that Lin Ye didn't know how to respond.

Xiaoman added, "The space here is cramped, which is disadvantageous for me."

"And what about him?"

Xiaoman looked at Master Lai.

Master Lai was squatting in front of a broken stone tablet, reaching out to touch the wet mud around it.

He moved slowly, but without the slightest sluggishness.

Xiaoman whispered, "It's in his best interest."

Lin Ye frowned.

Why?

"His condition has improved."

Lin Ye noticed it too.

Just now on the ground, Master Lai was still that old man holding a thermos and speaking slowly.

But the further down you go, the less he looks like an old man.

My back is straight now.

His eyesight cleared.

Even walking feels lighter now.

Like an old machine that was about to run out of power, it was finally plugged in.

Lin Ye suddenly realized that it wasn't just Master Lai.

He himself has also changed.

Before he came in, his shoulders were still sore and his back was still aching.

After getting here, the soreness actually lessened a lot.

My chest doesn't feel so stuffy anymore.

Even my hearing is clearer than usual.

It's too clear-cut.

He could hear the sound of water droplets falling on rotten wooden planks in the distance.

You can hear Luo Xiaohu's breathing getting faster.

You could hear the soft sound of Su Tinglan's sleeve brushing against the edge of the drawing.

He looked down at his hands.

My fingers weren't trembling.

On the contrary, it is very stable.

Xiaoman noticed his actions.

"Aren't you feeling unwell?"

Lin Ye shook his head.

"I don't feel uncomfortable."

"Your complexion has improved."

"Really?"

"Hmm." Xiaoman looked at him for two seconds. "Like fast charging."

Lin Ye was stunned for a moment.

"Are you using such down-to-earth metaphors now?"

"I learned it from you."

"Then you've gone astray."

Xiaoman didn't respond.

She looked deeper into the distance, her voice low.

"This place is affecting you."

Lin Ye hummed in agreement.

"It doesn't seem like a bad influence."

"The less bad it is, the more trouble it causes."

Lin Ye looked at her.

Xiaoman said, "Not knowing why you feel comfortable is more dangerous than knowing why you feel uncomfortable."

Lin Ye remained silent for a moment.

This doesn't sound like Xiaoman's usual style.

That makes a lot of sense.

He looked at Master Lai.

Master Lai seemed to have heard this as well, and turned to look at him.

"You're quite the smart guy, little bodyguard."

Xiaoman looked at him coldly.

Don't praise me.

Master Lai smiled.

Okay, I won't exaggerate.

Su Tinglan remained silent throughout.

She stood a little further back, watching Lin Ye's complexion gradually recover, and also seeing Master Lai's eyes grow brighter and brighter.

The blueprint in her hand was pressed into a crease by her fingertips.

She knew that Master Lai was no ordinary person.

Lin Ye's reaction still made her heart sink.

He can hear the dead talking.

I can still resonate with this place.

This is certainly a good thing for the organization.

But for Lin Ye, it's not necessarily true.

"Miss Su."

Xing Shanhe's voice brought her back to reality.

Su Tinglan looked up.

"What's wrong?"

Xing Shanhe pointed to the other end of the mezzanine.

"This place has been sealed off twice."

The group walked forward.

At the end of the mezzanine, there is a section of wall that is clearly different from the soil layer in front of it.

The bricks above are not from modern times.

It is older rammed earth.

The color is yellowish, the layers are very dense, and each layer is pressed very firmly.

Traces of cement from early construction remain in front of the rammed earth.

Like when someone dug up this place back then, and then quickly sealed it up.

Luo Xiaohu shone the light on them and immediately lowered his voice.

"Brother Shan, this soil isn't right."

Xing Shanhe squatted down, scraped off a bit of dirt with his finger, and smelled it.

Then I gently tapped it with a small shovel.

The sound was muffled.

It's not empty.

But it's not an ordinary earthen wall either.

Xing Shanhe's face slowly darkened.

"This is not from the Republic of China era."

Luo Xiaohu swallowed.

"When was that?"

Xing Shanhe did not answer immediately.

Master Lai walked over.

He stood in front of that section of rammed earth and suddenly closed his eyes.

This time, he didn't pretend to be sleepy while holding his thermos.

His fingers gently touched the surface of the rammed earth.

A few seconds later, the corners of his mouth actually curled up slightly.

"Found it."

The sounds around Lin Ye suddenly became chaotic.

The modern echoes in the interlayer receded slowly, as if suppressed by something.

Instead, a very low drumbeat came from deeper within.

thump.

It didn't make a sound.

But it made people's hearts sink.

Luo Xiaohu suddenly looked up.

"Did you feel it?"

Xing Shanhe looked at him.

"What?"

Luo Xiaohu's face was a little pale.

"It sounded like someone knocked from below."

No one spoke.

Lin Ye stood still, his fingers tightening little by little.

Because he sensed it too.

That wasn't an ordinary sound.

It's more like tapping up from the soles of your feet, little by little, along the bones.

thump.

Another one.

Master Lai opened his eyes and looked at Lin Ye.

"Now, is it clearer?"

Lin Ye did not answer.

He stared at that ancient rammed earth.

Only one thought remained in my mind.

The real thing is yet to come.