1TWITF[C Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Lin Chu still knew nothing.

She was bewildered by the sight before her, only thinking she was groping the wall.

A dark shadow moved behind her, and with a tiny point of contact, it pulled her hard. Lin Chu instantly leaned backward, her head slamming heavily against the wall. The flashlight also fell to the ground, rolling away.

“Damn it, what’s going on?” Lin Chu hissed in pain, turning her head to look, but there was only a dark wall.

In an ancient tomb, there would be many things like that, right?

Lin Chu shook her head. She didn’t know when An Xingyu had disappeared. She turned her head and saw the flashlight rolling on the ground, its beam illuminating a pair of feet.

“How did you suddenly get here?” She was a little surprised.

Lin Chu automatically understood that he had been frightened and ran away. She gave a dry laugh: “I’m fine.”

However, a black shadow?

The underground passage was damp, cold, and dark, largely because the surrounding walls were all made of blue bricks. They were old and the already deep color was even more somber. Without a flashlight, nothing could be seen clearly.

After Lin Chu clarified the range of the black shadow that An Xingyu had seen, she cautiously returned to that wall and carefully examined it.

Under the flashlight’s beam, she gradually made out a shadow. And the outline of that shadow…

Who else could it be but Lu Yanli?

“Um, Lu Yanli, is that you?” Lin Chu was shocked, finding it hard to believe.

She just didn’t know which Lu Yanli this was—a reanimated corpse or a conscious one? Or was this an illusion created by the ancient tomb?

Seeing that the shadow didn’t seem to have any malice, Lin Chu’s courage returned.

An Xingyu, behind her, said in a low voice: “It should be him. Perhaps Lu Yanli is also dead.”

Lin Chu shook her head: “No, that’s unlikely.” With Lu Yanli’s personality, he might have copied and pasted seven or eight versions of himself, how could he die so easily?

His voice was a little strange, slightly hoarse, and cold.

Lin Chu hummed in agreement.

The usually bold her was trembling inside at this moment.

Just now, Lu Yanli’s shadow had gestured, telling her to be careful, that the An Xingyu behind her was fake, and to go with him.

But An Xingyu said that Lu Yanli’s shadow was fake.

“I… wait for me a moment, let me study this,” Lin Chu said, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Which one was real?

Behind her, An Xingyu’s voice came closer.

“Let’s go quickly. Even if this is the real Lu Yanli, he’s already dead. After death, people only turn into evil spirits.”

In Lu Yanli’s eyes, a semi-transparent shadow got closer, trying to push Lin Chu towards the zombie.

Heh heh heh heh… Heh heh heh heh…

It was the eerie laughter of the ghosts.

They poked their heads out from all over—from the corners of the walls, from the cracks between the bricks, from the burial objects… Floating out little by little, hovering around Lin Chu.

But Lin Chu couldn’t hear this sound, and she couldn’t see the increasing number of semi-transparent shadows gathering around her.

They craved vitality, each trying to pull her hair, to hook her hand, wanting to touch the warmth of a living person, but they failed. No matter how they touched, they could only grasp at empty air. Therefore, after laughing for a long time, their voices turned angry again.

Lin Chu couldn’t see them, but she sensed that the surrounding temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees. She rubbed her arms and gave An Xingyu a smile.

But she had already raised her guard in her heart.

Just now, An Xingyu said he saw a black shadow, but the whole wall was black, and the tomb was so dark. Could he really see clearly with his eyesight?

“Let’s go, come with me,” An Xingyu said with a smile.

Lin Chu nodded as if she had been bewitched: “Okay.”

She followed behind An Xingyu, walking forward slowly.

Lu Yanli also followed, the blurry shadow appearing on the wall, following all the way, trying to find an opportunity to make her wake up.

If it wasn’t necessary, he didn’t want to kill Lin Chu. Killing was his means, not his goal.

Clusters of long, gray shadows followed behind, pointing and muttering, making unintelligible monosyllabic sounds, noisy and clamorous.

On the way back, the number of forks in the road had increased.

Lin Chu followed behind An Xingyu, gradually slowing her pace. When they came to a fork, she saw An Xingyu was about to continue forward. She suddenly turned around and sprinted back the way she came, without looking back.

At the crossroads, An Xingyu quietly watched her receding figure. Suddenly, he turned into a puff of blue smoke and disappeared on the spot.

She wanted to return to the place where they had entered the tomb, wanting to explore the east side. But when she tried to go back according to her memory, she found that she couldn’t find the way back no matter what.

This wasn’t so much a tomb chamber as a labyrinth, right?

And because of the dim environment, she couldn’t see the Lu Yanli who had been following her.

She suddenly noticed that the corner of her clothes was being tugged.

If the ancestral worship wasn’t completed, she would die here.

Although she wasn’t afraid of death, who wouldn’t want to live a little longer if they could?

The flashlight was placed aside, and the circle of light illuminated a figure.

The figure was writing something with its fingers, stroke by stroke. Lin Chu rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things.

Biting her lip, she stood up and shined the flashlight on it.

The worst that could happen was death. She might as well follow it and see.

Lu Yanli led Lin Chu, moving quickly through the dark underground maze, passing through tomb chamber after tomb chamber. Lin Chu noticed that the area of those chambers was getting larger and larger, and the valuable burial objects outside the chambers were also increasing.

She had a feeling that she was running towards the center of the tomb chamber.

What was at the center of the tomb chamber? Who was buried there?

Ancestral worship on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

The second day didn’t count, of course.

They had been underground for nearly a day.

Lu Yanli was keeping track of the time. If his guess was wrong, and they still couldn’t complete the task…

Then he would have no choice but to lead Lin Chu into a dead end.

*

At the foot of the mountain, Shangxian Village.

Many outsiders had come to the village.

Now, those people were going to break into the village to steal their treasure!

But for some reason, they only stood at the entrance of the village, not moving, as if they were waiting for something.

Inside the restricted area, two red-robed people were quickly excavating a grave.

The hands extending from their sleeves were, in fact, pale claws.

They quickly dug out a small coffin. Without hesitation, their sharp claws swiped, and the coffin lid was easily opened, revealing the small bones of a child inside.

So many years had passed that the corpse had long since rotted away. Not a single bit of flesh remained, only bare bones. Looking closer, one could see that a thick, blood-red nail was driven into the top of the skeleton’s head, piercing all the way through the skull and throat!

Several more blood-red nails pinned the skeleton’s shoulder blades, arm bones, and leg bones to the inside of the coffin, preventing the skeleton from escaping.

However, the nail that should have been driven into the left arm was missing.

On the left side above the coffin lid, there were a few slight scratch marks.

Inside the village, the little girl in the red dress suddenly clutched her arm and screamed.

Only then did the red-robed people raise their heads and slowly move forward.

Little by little, they walked into the village.

Along the way, villagers kept throwing themselves at them, tearing at them, hissing, roaring, the stench and the extremely thick smell of blood mixing together. But most of the time, they both turned into blue smoke and disappeared. Red robes scattered on the ground. Other red figures continued forward.

Gradually, the number of villagers decreased. And their team gradually came to the foot of the mountain behind the village, to Zhang Bo’s house.

It had become a ruin. In the center of the ruin was a hole about one meter in diameter.

Ghosts did not know how to yield. The treasure had become their obsession. Seeing that they did not stop and were coming straight for the treasure, the real Zhang Huixuan screamed and transformed into a huge blood-red figure.

This was her treasure… It was hers!

Lin Chu and Lu Yanli, who were still underground, did not know what was happening in the village. They did not understand Luo Ying’s desire to return to the village.

They were being chased by something that had awakened in the tomb chamber.

Tired and hungry, Lin Chu ran even faster. Afraid of not being able to see Lu Yanli clearly, she had to extend a sleeve, with her hand tucked inside, and let him pull her along.

It was no use. More and more things were chasing from behind. Besides the soldiers in armor, there were also various skeletons whose clothes had rotted away.

Faster! Faster!

Lin Chu was exhausted, but when she turned her head and saw the iron armor chasing her with a knife, she immediately felt full of energy again.

“What to do? There are also some in front!”

On the road ahead, a group of skeletons also appeared, slowly walking towards her.

Lu Yanli paused, and simply pulled her slowly upwards. In the end, Lin Chu was pulled all the way to the ceiling.

After being put down, Lin Chu took off running.

After a long time, they finally arrived outside the main tomb chamber.

The main tomb chamber seemed to be independent of the entire underground tomb, located on a second-story platform, enclosed on all sides. In the center of the second-story platform, there seemed to be fountain facilities. Until now, they were still operating, with gurgling spring water flowing and pouring into the clear pool at the bottom.

The ground was piled with a circle of bronze ware of unknown use, and there was also a skeleton buried as a sacrifice, probably a craftsman who built the tomb chamber.

Lin Chu wanted to take pictures, but she vaguely remembered that these things couldn’t be photographed, as they were likely to have a negative impact on the cultural relics. Therefore, after only looking at a blurry outline, she walked around the second-story platform, puzzled.

She was small. The bottom of the second-story platform was suspended in the air, with only water flowing. How was she going to get across?

Misfortune never comes singly. From several passageways, there was the sound of neat footsteps.

But there was really no other way now.

He had now become a painting. Apart from the occasional feeling of stiffness, he did not feel tired or weary. This was easy for him. If he wasn’t afraid that holding onto Lin Chu all the time would accidentally drag her into the wall as well, he could really do that.

“Okay, let’s go,” Lin Chu said, clenching her teeth, her whole body trying to curl up.

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Yanli released his hand.

With a “bang,” Lin Chu crashed heavily onto the platform. She protected her head and felt a little dizzy.

Lu Yanli had already arrived in front of the tomb chamber door, signaling her to go in.

“Damn… Fortunately, it can be automatically healed after returning, otherwise my medical insurance will be deducted again,” Lin Chu wiped away the blood that kept flowing from the corner of her mouth and staggered to the door. She felt terrible, relying entirely on her willpower to hold on.

“Playing a short bungee jump without a rope? How exciting, ow…”

Unexpectedly, with a gentle push, the door opened.

A ray of candlelight leaked out, illuminating the entire underground tomb chamber.

No way? There’s light?

Lin Chu actually felt that the light was too dazzling. She pushed hard and the door opened. The candlelight that had lit up the tomb chamber went out all at once.

The tomb chamber returned to darkness.

Lin Chu turned on the flashlight and slowly entered.

In the tomb chamber, there was another identical shadow, waiting quietly. Seeing her enter, the shadow pointed a finger, and Lin Chu saw the murals inside, as well as the incense burner in front of the shrine.

Ancestral worship…

Task…

How would she complete the task?

She knelt down on the prayer mat and felt a little better.

The Five Immortals picture in front of her seemed to be changing. She stared at the sea of blood for a while, her eyes gradually becoming blank.

Lu Yanli took the jade pendant from his shadow. He also had a small knife in his pocket. He moved to the ceiling again, the knife in his hand pointing directly at Lin Chu, who was kneeling on the ground.

As long as he let go, the knife would fall into Lin Chu’s neck.

He watched the person below.

Lin Chu’s eyes were gradually becoming blurred, and she seemed to hear beautiful singing in her ears. The singing made her want to throw her whole self into it, wanting to dedicate herself to the gods…

“I…” She unconsciously uttered a few words.

“I dedicate myself to…” The words that followed became lower and lower, and Lu Yanli could hardly hear them clearly.

But he knew that the task was completed.

At this time, in Shangxian Village, in Zhang Bo’s home.

Zhang Huixuan disappeared, leaving only a red dress on the ground.

It was Lili’s little dress. She had lent it to her aunt to wear. As long as she wore it, she couldn’t leave the mountain behind the village.

But Lili was dead, and her curse had loosened a little. Zhang Huixuan had left the mountain behind the village, but she couldn’t leave the village.

Next to the reservoir, a huge dog howled and jumped up, biting the dress, and then disappeared into the woods.

At the same time, the red-robed people were about to enter the underground chamber when their bodies suddenly froze.

Lu Yanli’s eyes went dark. When he opened them again, he found himself standing on a mountain. A clear, cold moon hung high, illuminating circles and circles of tombs below the mountain, looking like a white eye.

He reached into his pocket, and the double fish jade pendant was still there.

*

Lin Chu didn’t even know what she had said. The world spun before her eyes. When she woke up again, she was standing in a familiar alley, the pain in her body gone.

Was she back?

Had the task been completed?!

Beside her was Yu Xiangguang’s familiar face, with a look of horror on his face.

“Chu Chu…” He said his last words.

Then, his whole body began to turn white and swell, as if he had been soaked in water for a long, long time. He fell to the ground.

Yu Huan, Lin Xueyuan, and Xie Ziqing also turned into a bloody mess of corpses before her eyes.

Only An Xingyu was missing.

Tears couldn’t stop flowing. Lin Chu wiped away her tears. She really wanted to take Yu Xiangguang away, but in his current state…

She hardened her heart and, not forgetting the cameras she had installed, she took them all off. She returned to Yu Xiangguang’s side, reached out her hand, and closed his wide-open eyes.

It was said that hearing was the last sense to disappear after death. She didn’t know if he could hear her words, but she hoped that Yu Xiangguang could hear her and wait for her.

Then, Lin Chu ran out and called the police.

Only in this way could she, as a family member, legitimately take him away.

*

“Another murder has happened. Do you think Xiao An will be in danger, being alone outside?”

The couple had eaten dinner and were sitting on the sofa watching the news. As they watched, the TV station reported that four corpses had been found in an alley near a university town, hoping that kind people would provide clues, and so on.

An Xingyu’s mother couldn’t help but shed tears.

“Isn’t that the school Xiao An wanted to apply to the most? Do you think Xiao An will…”

An Ruo put his arm around his wife: “No, my colleagues told me that he wasn’t among them.”

His wife angrily punched him in the chest: “When will we be able to find him? You’ve checked the videos, and we’ve given you his diary to study. Why is there no progress so far?”

“We’ll find him, we’ll find him,” An Ruo said, unable to say any comforting words, repeating the same thing over and over again.

But in his heart, he felt empty and uncertain—could they really find him?

After nearly half a month, Lin Chu was finally cleared of suspicion after repeated investigations. She received a notice that she could take him back.

Lin Chu couldn’t wait to come to the police station, and she ran into a tall, thin man walking out of it.

“I’m sorry.”

“I apologize.”

The two apologized at the same time and subconsciously remembered each other’s features in an instant. The man nodded to her and walked out. Lin Chu went to find the person in charge to coordinate.

When she had finished everything and brought Yu Xiangguang out of the crematorium, Lin Chu held the small box and sat in the room in a daze.

Her room was completely different from before. The walls were covered with her own notes and various news printouts, densely packed with words, all about recent abnormal deaths and analyses of escape routes found on websites.

So, where did this task come from?

A news report was broadcast on TV.

“…Recently, archaeologists discovered a large tomb in XX City, X Province. According to experts, the tomb…”

She glanced at it and indifferently looked away, continuing to ponder.

In another world, Lu Yanli was also involved in this matter.

He needed to understand the origins of the double fish jade pendant and wanted to know the true owner of that tomb. Therefore, he told the bishops of the Omniscient God Sect about this matter.

They mourned Luo Ying’s death, while also firmly believing that she must have gone to heaven under God’s guidance. After holding a funeral with them, the group prepared to increase their manpower and continue to explore.

If there really was a treasure… then it should be dedicated to their God!

Lu Yanli didn’t care about the so-called treasure.

He just wanted to know the news of the tomb owner.

Unfortunately, at this moment, another task player entered.

Standing on the street, Lu Yanli once again felt his incongruity.

He couldn’t regard these people as his own kind.

In the distance, two beautifully dressed young girls were staring at him, wanting to ask for his contact information. After hesitating for a while, they wanted to chase after him, but found that he had disappeared into the crowd.

In any case, with the task player entering, things should be safer.

Lu Yanli returned to his residence and slept soundly. When he opened his eyes again, there were no strange things in the room, which made him a little unaccustomed.

He lived like a normal person, and after eating, he sat next to the computer to check the news.

“…Recently, archaeologists discovered a large tomb in the suburbs of XX City, X Province. A batch of cultural relics has been excavated and will be transported to the XXX Provincial Museum…”

Lu Yanli’s eyes widened suddenly.

Wasn’t this tomb the one they had been excavating before?

Now that the world had returned to normal, without those strange things and evil spirits, the official participation made the progress much faster.

Hopefully, the task players this time can live a little longer.

He booked a ticket to X Province for the next day and returned to his room to pack his luggage.

*

“Okay, stop arguing!” The tallest woman in the group said, “Now, let’s all consider how we can sneak into the archaeological team?”