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

After the words on the walkie-talkie were spoken, there was a few seconds of silence in front of the low-profile shop.

Nobody moved.

The thin captain was still holding the rope knot in his hand, his face pale.

"Brother Shan, are we still going?"

Xing Shanhe glanced at him.

"You're not leaving? You want to go back and do it a fourth time?"

The skinny captain shut up.

Lin Ye looked at the short, half-person-high hole.

A damp, cold wind blew out in gusts, carrying the musty smell of the old irrigation ditch.

It smells awful.

But it's still better than that roundabout road.

Master Lai stood next to box number three, holding a thermos.

He didn't urge him.

But his gaze remained fixed on the box.

Lin Ye understood.

This old man can lose anyone now, but he can't lose box number three.

Xing Shanhe quickly gave the order.

"Number three goes first."

"Stabilize the front, then push slowly from behind."

"Don't bump the box, don't overturn it, and don't get it wet."

The skinny captain muttered under his breath, "This treatment is better than most people's."

Xing Shanhe looked at him coldly.

The skinny captain immediately changed his tune: "Of course, these are valuables."

Box number three was wrapped with soft padding, and then covered with a waterproof cloth.

The two tomb raiders crawled into the low opening first, and the rope was pulled from the inside.

People were being sent in little by little from outside.

The moment the box entered the culvert, Lin Ye felt another thud in his ear.

Those chaotic, lingering sounds seemed to be being dragged forward.

It didn't disappear.

It went with the box.

Lin Ye leaned against the wall, his fingertips touching a layer of cold, damp mud.

Xiaoman immediately looked at him.

"Feeling unwell again?"

"No." Lin Ye paused for a moment, "When this box moves, the sound also moves."

Xiaoman glanced at box number three, then quickly looked away.

"Don't stare."

"I know," Lin Ye said in a low voice. "I see it almost like a bomb now."

Box No. 1 and Box No. 2 were also delivered one after another.

Then there are people.

The short opening is even harder to squeeze through than it looks.

Once inside, it was discovered that what was inside was not just a simple crack, but a section of an old drainage ditch.

Half a person's height.

It is just wide enough for an adult to bend over and pass through.

One section of the wall is made of old bricks, another section is made of rough stone, and there is also cement that was later added.

There were rusted nails and broken wooden stakes overhead, and rotten cable sheaths hanging down in some places.

There was shallow water on the ground, and when you stepped on it, you could hear a very soft sloshing sound.

Snapped.

Snapped.

The sound traveled through the canal and sounded much louder than it actually was.

Lin Ye had just crawled inside when he almost bumped his head on a nail.

Xiaoman reacted quickly and raised her hand to block it.

She uses her right hand.

My wrist had just been twisted by Master Lai, and my fingertips visibly trembled when they touched the edge of the nail.

Lin Ye immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her back half an inch.

"Could you please stop using your right hand so much?"

Xiaoman pulled her hand back.

"I'm used to it."

The skinny captain in front glanced back and whispered, "The two of you can still chat at a time like this, your mental fortitude is truly impressive."

Lin Ye looked at him.

"I'm afraid if I don't talk to them, but chatting for a bit makes me feel more at ease."

The skinny captain thought for a moment.

"That makes sense. I also want to take my time."

Xing Shanhe lowered his voice from the front: "Enough with the nonsense."

The skinny captain immediately shut his mouth with composure.

The team slowly moved forward in the culvert.

Box number three was carried in the middle section by two people, one in front and one behind.

Master Lai walked close to the box.

Chen Jin and Bai Yuan protected Su Tinglan.

Xiaoman (the beginning of spring) clings to the woods and fields.

Broken Eyebrows was being supported by two tomb raiders, and they walked very slowly.

He occasionally let out a phrase like "etiquette must not be neglected," but his voice was much lower than before.

There were no ancient sacrificial inscriptions like those in the main ceremonial chamber in the culvert.

This place contains more traces left by living people.

Old bricks.

cement.

Rotten wood.

There were some faint pencil marks on the wall.

Some of them have already been soaked and stained by water.

Su Tinglan swept the light across the area and frowned.

"This is a construction line."

Xingshan River turns back.

"Can you tell the era?"

"There are early manual chisel marks, as well as later cement repairs," Su Tinglan said. "They weren't done by the same group of people. The earliest one was probably during the construction around the time Qingshan Park was built."

Lin Ye's ears hurt again when he heard the word "construction".

The old sounds behind the wall seemed to have been stepped on and gently turned over.

"Old Ma, you can't knock here."

"The bottom is empty."

"The higher-ups said it's been sealed off."

"Where are you sealing off? The people are still inside..."

The sound stopped there.

Lin Ye paused for a moment.

Xiaoman looked at him.

Lin Ye shook his head.

"continue."

He didn't say those words aloud.

It's no use saying anything.

Those people are long gone.

They need to get out of here alive first.

After walking for a short while, the thin captain suddenly asked in a low voice:

"Brother Shan".

Xing Shanhe did not turn back.

"explain."

The thin captain lowered his voice.

"What should we do with Xiaohu and the others?"

The culvert suddenly became quiet.

Nobody wants to ask that question.

But sooner or later someone will ask.

Luo Xiaohu's body is still in the lantern array behind.

Several unconscious people were also behind them.

When they entered the culvert, everyone knew one thing.

We can't go back the way we came for now.

Xing Shanhe stopped in his tracks.

He didn't answer immediately.

The sound of water was soft at my feet.

He spoke after a few seconds.

"Get the living people out of here first."

The skinny captain's throat moved.

"That little tiger..."

Xing Shanhe turned his head.

His face was expressionless, but his eyes were a little red.

"I said, take the living people out first."

The skinny captain shut his mouth.

Lin Ye didn't say anything either.

At times like these, no amount of comforting will help.

Xing Shanhe is the team leader.

He had to make the worst choice.

Xing Shanhe turned back.

"Walk."

The group continued forward.

The culvert is getting narrower and narrower.

There was a section where everyone had to turn sideways to pass.

Box number three got stuck once.

The two tomb raiders were sweating profusely, but dared not pull him away forcefully.

Master Lai stood to the side, his eyes turning cold.

Xing Shanhe went over himself and touched the edge of the stone wall.

"Press it down and to the left a little."

The thin captain did as instructed.

The box slid over little by little.

No one dared to breathe loudly.

After the box passed, the skinny captain almost sat down in the water.

"This isn't a disconnection line, it's a weight loss channel!"

Lin Ye said, "If you gain two more pounds, you'll be a tourist attraction today."

The skinny captain gave a wry smile: "Tourism under the tomb, the main attraction is a one-way trip?"

Xing Shanhe said coldly, "Shut up."

This time, the skinny captain closed his mouth very quickly.

After walking for another seven or eight minutes, a fork in the road appeared ahead.

The sound of water was louder on the left.

There's wind on the right.

The wind was noticeably stronger than the damp wind from the low-lying area earlier, blowing out in a cool, refreshing manner.

The skinny captain's eyes lit up.

"It's windy, is that the exit over there?"

Xing Shanhe did not make a judgment immediately.

He looked at Lin Ye.

Master Lai also looked at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye closed his eyes.

The echoes in the culvert were fewer than those in the main chapel, but more varied.

These are the sounds of panic, gasps, and knocking left behind by living people back then.

After a while, he heard Ma Changshun's voice, coming intermittently from the right vent.

"Old Yao, don't ride the wave."

"The wind is strong, and the soil is loose."

"There was a rockfall just now."

"If it collapses again, no one will be able to get out."

Another voice sounded urgent.

"Then what about the fire?"

"The water is shallow enough to walk in."

"Don't be afraid of getting wet, don't be afraid of being buried."

Lin Ye opened his eyes.

"Go to the left."

The skinny captain was taken aback.

"No way? It's not moving with the wind, but moving with the water?"

Lin Ye looked at him.

"So you're going to ride the wave?"

The skinny captain's face stiffened.

Xing Shanhe has already had someone use a probe to test the right-side vent.

As soon as the probe was inserted, a faint rustling sound came from above.

Splash!

A piece of gravel fell from above the wind gap and hit the front of the probe.

The tomb raider's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the probe.

The skinny captain's face turned pale.

Holy crap.

Lin Ye looked at him.

"Do you still want to be blown by the wind now?"

The thin captain shook his head.

"No, I feel more comfortable with water."

Xing Shanhe glanced at Lin Ye.

This time, he didn't ask for a reason.

"Take water."

The water on the left is not deep.

Just past the top of the shoe.

But the ground was slippery.

Everyone slowed down.

The box was carried by rope to prevent the bottom from getting wet.

With each step the number three box moved forward, it sounded to Lin Ye like someone was wiping an old radio with a cloth, the sound sometimes clear and sometimes muddy.

He heard Old Li cursing in the Qingshan Cemetery.

"Who turned off the lights?"

Then I heard Boss Wei speaking in a sarcastic tone.

"This doesn't look like a power outage."

And there was also the voice of Old Mrs. Zhao.

"Shut up, I hear a car."

These sounds shouldn't have been heard here.

It shouldn't be this clear.

Lin Ye's heart sank deeper and deeper.

After the Xuan Gui was placed in the box, chaos began to ensue on Green Mountain.

He wasn't sure if this was just a temporary disruption or if the entire cemetery would be affected.

Xiaoman walked beside him and asked in a low voice, "Did you hear what was going on up there?"

Lin Ye glanced at her.

How did you know?

Your expression changed.

"What expression should I make?"

"It's like having your salary deposited into your account only to have taxes deducted from it."

Lin Ye fell silent.

This analogy is surprisingly accurate.

He said in a low voice, "The situation on Qingshan Mountain is also in chaos."

Xiaoman didn't ask any more questions.

She simply moved a little closer to him, blocking Master Lai's view from behind.

This movement is very small.

But Lin Ye saw it.

After walking a little further, the walkie-talkie suddenly went off.

This time, it's not about me showing off.

It was the backup phone on Xing Shanhe's waist that started flashing red intermittently.

sizzle.

sizzle.

Xing Shanhe raised his hand, signaling the team to stop.

A very low voice came from the walkie-talkie.

"……Entrance……"

"Accused..."

"The car...can't be used..."

The skinny captain's expression changed.

"What do you mean?"

No one answered.

The intercom cut off again.

It sounded like someone was covering the microphone, speaking urgently:

"Not an ordinary police officer..."

"Documents..."

"Cultural relics..."

The following sounds were swallowed up by the electric current.

Snapped.

The walkie-talkie screen went completely black.

Only the sound of water remained in the culvert.

Lin Ye looked at Su Tinglan.

Su Tinglan was also looking at him.

The two looked at each other for a moment.

Lin Ye lowered his voice.

"Do you know who it is?"

Su Tinglan did not answer immediately.

Xing Shanhe and Master Lai were looking at their walkie-talkies ahead, so I didn't pay attention to them for the time being.

Her voice was very soft.

"I've heard of it."

"Never seen it before?"

"Um."

Lin Ye twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Even you guys haven't seen this before, quite the grand entrance."

Su Tinglan looked at him.

"Don't think of them as ordinary cultural relic inspectors."

"sharp?"

Su Tinglan paused for half a second.

"Anyone that Master Lai would rather avoid head-on is formidable."

Lin Ye remained silent.

That statement is clear enough.

Master Lai then raised his head and looked at Xing Shanhe.

"Are there any other exits?"

Xing Shanhe put away the walkie-talkie, which had already gone black.

"There is an alternative route."

"Where?"

"Further along this canal, there should be a section of blocking wall," Xing Shanhe said. "Behind the wall is the old drainage outlet on the back side of the mountain. We explored half of it before, but it wasn't completely cleared."

Master Lai looked at him.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Xing Shanhe's voice was cold and hard.

"Because that line isn't on the map, and nobody has ever walked that route."

"Let's go now."

Xing Shanhe looked at him.

"We don't know what's behind the wall."

Master Lai said calmly, "The road on the map is guarded."

Once those words were spoken, no one argued anymore.

The road in the picture is outside our own territory.

The road not on the map became the only chance.

The group continued forward.

The underground canal begins to flow upwards.

The slope wasn't steep, but it was still quite tiring to walk on.

The boxes are even harder to move.

The two tomb raiders took turns handling the task three times.

The skinny captain was panting heavily, but he still couldn't resist making sarcastic remarks.

"I used to think that the scariest thing about going into tombs was ghosts."

Lin Ye asked, "And now?"

"What I fear most now is logistics."

Lin Ye hesitated for a moment, but still managed a smile.

"Your summary is excellent."

Xing Shanhe did not scold him.

He walked ahead, his shoulders and back tense.

Lin Ye knew that he was still thinking about Luo Xiaohu.

He was also thinking about those who hadn't been brought along.

But he couldn't turn back.

The higher you go, the colder the air gets.

The sound of water gradually subsided.

Instead, there was a very slight vibration on the top of my head.

thump.

thump.

It wasn't the sound of drums.

It looks more like there are vehicles passing by on the ground, or people walking around.

Lin Ye stopped.

The familiar voices from Qingshan Cemetery became clearer and clearer in his ears.

Old Li was so anxious he kept shouting.

"Someone from above has arrived!"

Boss Wei's voice wasn't as rude as usual.

"So many living people, their steps are very synchronized."

Grandma Zhao spoke in a low voice.

"Shut up, I hear a car."

Then an even more ancient voice pressed up from below.

Very heavy.

very slow.

"Gui Li Qing Shan".

"Change the gate of life."

Lin Ye's fingers tightened instantly.

Xiaoman noticed that he stopped.

"What's wrong now?"

Lin Ye looked at the increasingly narrow underground ditch ahead.

"There are people in higher positions."

Xiaoman said, "I already said that on the walkie-talkie."

"It's different," Lin Ye said in a low voice. "The dead people on Green Mountain heard it too."

Upon hearing this, Su Tinglan also looked over.

Master Lai's expression changed slightly.

He took two steps forward.

"Anything else?"

Lin Ye didn't look at him.

"Change the gate of life."

Master Lai frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Lin Ye looked up and gazed ahead.

"It means that exports may no longer be exports."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xing Shanhe stopped in front of him.

The group stopped.

A wall appeared at the end of the culvert.

Cement, gravel, and old bricks were mixed together, completely blocking the way.

There are obvious signs of sealing on the wall.

It was not a natural landslide.

Someone later built it up.

The skinny captain stared wide-eyed.

"Brother Shan, is this what you actually said?"

Xing Shanhe touched the wall.

"It's sealed off."

The skinny captain almost broke through his defenses.

"This is what you call an exit? Isn't this just a wall?"

Xing Shanhe ignored him and shone his flashlight along the wall.

"It can be disassembled."

The skinny captain opened his mouth, but finally managed to utter a sentence:

"Okay, exports are currently not open."

Lin Ye almost burst out laughing.

This person is just getting more and more talkative the more they fear something.

Xing Shanhe has already begun making arrangements.

"Silencer hammer."

"Crowbar".

"Don't make any loud noises."

"Remove the bottom right corner first."

The tomb raiders immediately put down the box and took out their tools.

Master Lai stood next to box number three, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the blocking wall and the box.

Chen Jin and Bai Yuan protected Su Tinglan.

Xiaoman stood beside Lin Ye, her left hand holding her bag, her right hand hanging down.

A faint sound came from the other side of the wall.

It's very light.

It was like metal hitting a stone.

Ding.

Everyone stopped.

Xing Shanhe raised his hand, signaling not to move.

Another sound.

Ding.

It didn't sound like a voice from a tomb.

It sounds more like someone outside has struck the stone surface with a metal object.

Or perhaps the people searching the mountain stumbled upon something with their probes.

Just then, the walkie-talkie suddenly lit up again.

The screen was clearly black just now.

A red light flashed on the screen.

A very urgent, low voice came from inside.

"There are people on the back slope too..."

"Don't make a sound..."

The sound stopped abruptly.

It was swallowed up by the electric current again.

This time, there wasn't even a sizzling sound.

The underground ditch was deathly still.

Xing Shanhe gripped the crowbar, his face grim.

Master Lai slowly raised his eyes and looked at the blocking wall.

Lin Ye stood in front of the wall, listening to the faint metallic sounds outside, and a chill ran down his spine.

They crawled out from piles of dead bodies.

But those waiting behind the wall may not be as easy to talk to as the dead.