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1865 Chapter Twenty-Seven – The Secret of the First Package

Liang Wan closed the documents and pinched her brow. She hadn’t memorized everything but had taken plenty of notes, copying down the names and ages of the young draftsmen, all of whom were only in their teens. She had also taken many photos. She knew it was impossible to memorize everything, but she felt that this information shouldn’t leave the room; the warning felt somewhat strange.

Liang Wan was very clever; she didn’t know if there was a surveillance system in this room. She discreetly glanced around with her peripheral vision but didn’t notice anything unusual. However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t one, as she wasn’t knowledgeable about such technology. Logically analyzing the warning that these documents couldn’t leave the room, she found the action itself meaningless. What would happen if she took the documents out? If they were indeed precious and couldn’t be carried with her, the other party could easily use copies.

Since these were all originals and there was this strange warning, it was likely that the warning had little to do with the documents themselves but was more about her. Most likely, the other party was testing whether she would obey. Of course, she wasn’t that obedient, but there was no need to make them lose confidence in her at this point.

After ensuring everything was in order, she carefully checked the dark room again before returning to her own room and sealing the wardrobe. This room made her feel uneasy. She waited for a moment but received no calls, so she left the room.

By this time, it was already bright outside. She had a cup of coffee at a roadside café before hailing a taxi. She was very clear about what she needed to do and knew where the breakthrough lay. Underestimating women would be the biggest mistake for you self-righteous men, Liang Wan thought. You think that world is under your control. It’s time for a woman to change the rules.

She glanced at her watch. It was an electronic watch that was counting down; she had specifically bought it for this purpose, capable of counting down 999 days. It was the longest countdown watch she could find. The first part of the number showed 54.

There were 54 days left. This watch represented the key phrase from that man’s nightmarish ramblings, which had been repeated the most. Since that day, she had gone from disbelief to belief, wasting too much time. From the moment she began to believe in this matter to her relentless efforts to become Li Zhu’s attending physician, to her first confrontation with Wu Xie, things hadn’t gone as smoothly as she had imagined. Now, only 54 days remained.

“Take me straight to the airport,” Liang Wan said to the driver, abandoning her idea of resting after a sleepless night. She hoped to gain a few more hours for this matter. The driver nodded, pressed the meter, and Liang Wan closed her eyes. She could sleep for two hours and quickly fell into slumber with a steam mask on.

The driver glanced at her through the rearview mirror and sighed softly.

Li Zhu arrived at Su Wan’s house and felt as if he were traversing through several different timelines. The door was so familiar and ordinary; he had entered and exited it more than once, and now it felt as if he were just passing by to play with Su Wan. Now that Su Wan was in the hospital, uncertain of life or death, his purpose for coming here felt quite strange.

Su Wan couldn’t give him the key, so he had to climb in from the side. He had done this many times before, often sneaking out in the middle of the night to play games at an internet café with Su Wan. He climbed in and, familiar with the surroundings, turned on the lights in the yard.

The loquat tree was right beneath Su Wan’s room. Seeing the loquat tree, Li Cu knew why Su Wan chose this spot; the ground beneath the tree was sandy. He dug around with his hands and quickly unearthed something beneath.

It was a tea canister, about the size of a cup. Li Cu opened it and poured out its contents, revealing a key. There was a label on the key, which had an address written on it.

He sat down on the ground and suddenly realized that this trick had also been used on Liang Wan. It seemed the other party was quite accustomed to using such tactics.

This was the first package, and it contained only a key?

He examined the address on the back of the key more closely. This address was far more impressive than Liang Wan’s; it was located in Inner Mongolia.

Bayan Har West Garden Street in Alashan League, it was a hotel room.

Li Cu stroked his chin, pondering why Su Wan would hide this key while leaving other strange items out in the open.

Su Wan was a person with a very normal way of thinking; there must be a reason for him to hide this key.

What could the reason be?

There was no reason; the key certainly wouldn’t strike Su Wan as strange. The only possibility was that Su Wan had been to this room.

This guy had money and an ID, so it was indeed possible. It would only take three days for a round trip from here.

Li Cu looked at the key again and noticed that the keychain attached to it was a bit odd; it resembled a peculiar prototype dagger. He fiddled with it and discovered that the key’s pendant was actually a USB drive.

He climbed through the big tree into Su Wan’s room, opened his computer, and plugged in the USB drive.

Inside was a video. Li Cu thought to himself, “What the hell,” and clicked on the video.

It was indeed a hotel room. At the very beginning of the video, he saw a person’s face, and Li Cu was stunned.

“Little Duck Pear, it’s Dad.”

The large face began to speak, and Li Cu covered his mouth; he saw his father in the video.

His father’s demeanor was off; he seemed quite nervous, something he had never shown in front of Li Cu before.

His father was holding the phone himself, and it was clear his hand was shaking badly.

“This may be the last message Dad ever gets to say to you in this world. I’m about to head to a place. I couldn’t bring this out with me, so I used this USB drive to make it more discreet, hoping it would work. Just a moment, Dad will secretly record something for you, and you need to keep this safe.”

Li Cu could see that his father was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed, and there was background noise in the distance, indicating there was more than one person in the room.

His father glanced behind him, seemingly afraid that the person in the background would come over and see him recording.

After confirming that no one was coming, his father continued, “If Dad doesn’t come back, you need to finish your studies. If you’re uncomfortable at your mom’s place, just stay by yourself. You’re grown up now, and I trust that you have your own thoughts. All of Dad’s savings are in the box under the bed; it should be enough for you to live until you’re an adult. You can’t go to the police; what Dad is doing is very dangerous and illegal.”

In the background, someone called out, and his father responded, continuing to speak urgently to him: “It’s inconvenient for Dad to talk. You need to live well. This step Dad is taking is not out of irresponsibility; it’s truly forced. Don’t try to figure out what exactly happened to Dad. Later, you must take good care of the things Dad records. Someone will pay a very high price for them.”

1864 Chapter 26 – Battle Between Humans and Snakes

“Are you fucking stupid?!” Li Cu cursed loudly. He swung the fire extinguisher, naively hoping to drive the snakes back, but it was already too late. Yang Hao jumped down from the freezer, kicking a few snakes aside as he rushed to Li Cu’s side, frustratedly slapping himself on the face. “Mistake, mistake! Why are there so many? We need to retreat.”

“This place is full of residential buildings. If we just retreat, how many people will be harmed?” Li Cu said. “We can’t retreat; we have to take them all down.”

“We’re definitely going to die here,” Yang Hao replied, pointing at Su Wan. “If we don’t die, Su Wan will definitely die here.”

They immediately looked at Su Wan, who was crawling up while foaming at the mouth. The wound on his neck was deep and dark, and the blood flowing out was black. His tongue was numb, making it impossible for him to speak clearly; he just pointed at a cardboard box on the other side. “Gun! Damn it, where’s the gun?”

Li Cu and Yang Hao exchanged a glance and rushed to the box, pulling out a folding submachine gun. In their panic, it took them a long time to load the bullets and pull back the bolt.

Li Cu had never imagined that firing a real gun would be so difficult; pulling the trigger six times in rapid succession nearly made him lose grip. He then adjusted his strength, pressing down on the gun and began to spray bullets at the snakes on the ground.

There was no suspense; the snakes were incredibly fast, but under the dense firepower created by the two of them, the snakes were shattered like grass, all the way to the door.

“Will someone call the police?” After stopping the fire, Li Cu could hardly hear anything, only Yang Hao’s voice asking him.

Li Cu shook his head. “No, Chinese people haven’t heard gunshots; they would think it’s firecrackers.”

They put away the gun and immediately went back to help Su Wan up. Li Cu had thought Su Wan would get up immediately and complain a bit, but when he saw Su Wan’s condition, his face had turned black, and he was unconscious. Something was wrong.

He touched Su Wan’s forehead, thinking it couldn’t be that serious. After slapping him a couple of times, he realized Su Wan had stopped breathing.

“He’s dead! He’s dead!” Yang Hao exclaimed in horror.

He leaned down to listen for a heartbeat and only heard a very faint pulse. His mind went blank, and after checking Su Wan’s pulse, he immediately began performing artificial respiration. After a few attempts, there was no response; Su Wan’s body had stiffened.

Yang Hao slapped Li Cu, who finally snapped back to reality and immediately called for an ambulance. By the time he checked Su Wan again, he found that his entire body had gone cold. Li Cu collapsed to the ground, feeling dizzy.

In the moments before the ambulance arrived, they tidied up the scene. Throughout the process, Li Cu was in a daze. Yang Hao said that if it was a snake bite, they needed to bring the snakes along, so they found a bag and stuffed one of the snake carcasses inside.

On the way in the ambulance, Li Cu’s ethereal consciousness began to return, and he truly realized what he was about to face.

Watching Su Wan’s face gradually turn pale on the stretcher, his heart grew colder. The thrilling and poignant scenes he had previously read about in novels lost their romantic facade in reality, becoming so cruel.

It seemed that in those 20 minutes, he had completely transformed from a high school student into an adult.

He buried his face in his hands, listening to the sounds of the heart monitor and the ambulance sirens. Yang Hao was on the phone with Su Wan’s parents. Then, his ears began to ring, and gradually he could hear nothing at all.

Li Cu did not dwell on whose fault it was; he knew that no one wanted such things to happen. He was as innocent as Su Wan. He wouldn’t entangle his emotions in guilt; he wasn’t that kind of person. Perhaps this was one of his few virtues.

But what he thought about was his future—what should he do next? He used to think this was his destiny, but now he felt afraid. A deep-seated fear; he never imagined that something like destiny could be so dangerous.

Not just for himself but for those around him. Would he have to bear such psychological pressure for any decision he made in the future?

Su Wan was sent to the intensive care unit. The two of them sat outside the door while Yang Hao received Su Wan’s parents, who soon after issued a critical condition notice. Li Cu looked at Su Wan in the ward from a distance, picked up his phone, and pressed 110.

He didn’t dial it out; his fingers slid across the screen a few times before retracting. He wasn’t afraid of trouble; he knew he couldn’t bear the consequences afterward. He also knew that no one would blame him, but he just couldn’t press the button.

The reason he couldn’t press it wasn’t noble. He knew he was an ordinary person. Never had he felt as excited as before because he realized he was no longer ordinary. He didn’t need to get excellent grades or be exceptionally handsome; he could tell himself he had reasons to look down on others.

Although he didn’t know if this reason was beneficial to him, at his age, he needed such a reason to feel different from everyone else.

If he pressed that number, he would quickly become an ordinary middle school student with no reason to skip class.

Just as he was hesitating and worrying about Su Wan’s condition, suddenly Su Wan’s mother came out of the intensive care unit and rushed to him, saying, “Duck Pear, Wanwan wants you to go in.”

Li Cu was taken aback as Su Wan’s mother grabbed him and pulled him into the ward. He saw that Su Wan was already awake, his face pale and his lips purple.

“Are you okay?” Li Cu didn’t know what else to say. His upbringing had left him inexperienced in such situations.

“How could I be okay?” Su Wan said in a voice so low it was almost inaudible.

“Don’t worry. If the snake venom hasn’t killed you, it can be treated soon,” Li Cu said, and only then did he realize Su Wan’s parents were nearby.

Su Wan ignored his joke, moved his head slightly, and couldn’t produce much sound, just signaling him to come closer.

Li Cu leaned in, and Su Wan said, “Sorry, Duck Pear, there’s something I hid.”

Li Cu looked at him and understood instantly; it seemed that Su Wan hadn’t given him everything. But he was surprised; Su Wan wasn’t the type to hide things.

“What is it?” Li Cu glanced at his parents and quietly asked.

“The first package,” Su Wan said. “It’s buried under the pipa tree at my house.”

“The first one?”

“Yes, that was the first package. This package is very important. I’m really sorry I hid it away; you must take a look.” Su Wan said.
“Why did you hide it?”
“It wasn’t me who wanted to hide it; it was the person who sent these things who requested it. But I’m afraid if I don’t say anything, there won’t be another chance.” Su Wan closed his eyes and said softly, “While my parents are still in the hospital, hurry and take it out.”
“Did you not receive these?”

1863 Chapter 25 – Horde of Snakes

Three people entered the warehouse again, the buzzing sound of the freezer sending chills down their spines, specifically referring to the three of them because they knew what was inside.

As they stood before the freezer, Yang Hao handed each person a cigarette and said, “Let’s have a smoke first, brothers, and then we can face our fate.”

The three lit their cigarettes, and Li Zu suddenly remembered something. Holding his cigarette, he bowed before the freezer and said, “Brothers and sisters, it was never my intention to put you in there, and I bear you no disrespect. You know I had no choice; after all, you were packed away. If you could manifest and tell me what to do, that would be great. If not, please don’t scare us. We’ll give you a grand burial once we’re done, and in your next life, may you be reborn into a good family. With the housing prices in Beijing so high, there’s no need to linger on this.”

“Where did you learn all this?” Su Wan asked.

“From an old friend of a friend.”

The three of them took a few puffs from their cigarettes, but the pressure was too overwhelming, and they couldn’t smoke anymore. So they stubbed them out, rolled up their sleeves, and prepared to act.

As they walked up to the freezer, Su Wan said, “If you’re going to manifest, now’s the time. If you don’t show yourself now, there won’t be another chance.”

Just as he finished speaking, the freezer suddenly clanged, and the entire unit shook.

The three immediately froze in place, exchanging glances, and Su Wan exclaimed, “Damn, it really manifested!”

Yang Hao raised his hand and slapped Su Wan lightly, “Shut your crow’s mouth.” Su Wan pointed at Li Zu, “He said it first!”

Before he could finish his words, the freezer suddenly tipped over with a loud crash, and the lid flew open, spilling out the body parts. Along with them came a large mass of thick, black objects—snakes, just like the ones they had seen before.

As they hit the ground, they scattered and slid towards the three of them. Instinctively, they stepped back, but the snakes immediately lunged at them with great aggression.

“Oh shit, oh shit!!” Su Wan cursed as he fell to the ground, while the other two pulled him back several meters. The snakes moved slightly slower than the one Li Zu had encountered earlier, likely due to the extremely low temperature inside the freezer, but they still crawled toward them at an alarming speed. The wet, black hair on the ground looked as if it had come to life.

The three of them ran back until they hit the wall. Turning around, they saw the snakes all around their feet. Yang Hao kicked a few of the snakes up to the beams while shouting to Su Wan, “There’s a shovel behind you, grab it!”

Su Wan nodded and turned to pick up the shovel leaning against the wall, tossing it to him.

Yang Hao clearly intended for Su Wan to take the lead so he could catch his breath, but unexpectedly, Su Wan threw the shovel back, hitting him on the head and knocking him into the pile of snakes. Yang Hao, well-versed in street smarts, quickly pushed himself up with one hand, shook off the snakes, and began to swing the shovel, smashing the ones that had surrounded him. He then glared angrily at Su Wan.

“Protect the prince! Protect the prince!” Su Wan yelled as he kicked the snakes away, while Yang Hao swung the shovel and knocked Su Wan against the wall, then came over to help him fend off the snakes.

Li Cu was relatively calm, having faced this situation once before. He had already grabbed a nearby wicker chair to use as a shield, blocking the snakes in front of him. After Yang Hao rescued Su Wan, he came over to help Li Cu, quickly killing the snakes with a few strikes.

The snakes were undeterred by death; one by one, they were swatted down without attempting to escape, continuing to surge forward. As the freezing effect weakened, their speed increased.

“Fire extinguisher! Fire extinguisher!” Su Wan shouted from behind. The two turned to see two fire extinguishers about ten meters away against the wall. The three of them moved together, slowly retreating, and Su Wan picked one up and sprayed it at the snakes.

This proved effective; the snakes began to retreat. Su Wan swung his arms to push them back. As soon as the snakes slowed down, Yang Hao rushed in to deliver a fatal blow. If the snakes retaliated, the two would quickly retreat behind Li Cu, who used the shield to block.

After six or seven minutes, all the visible snakes were dead.

The group gradually relaxed, gathering together to look around. Su Wan remarked, “We’re practically a Spartan phalanx—balanced in offense and defense, unbreakable.”

Yang Hao raised his shovel to hit him, but Li Cu stopped him. Li Cu was drenched in cold sweat as he glanced at the overturned freezer across from them and asked, “No one got bitten, right?”

The three checked their bodies and shook their heads. Su Wan said, “These snakes don’t seem to bite. Several crawled on me, and when I pulled them off, they didn’t bite.”

“Me too,” Yang Hao replied. Before he could finish, he suddenly saw a scaly face emerge from behind Su Wan’s neck.

It was an incredibly hideous face, covered in black fur, which suddenly opened its mouth and bit Su Wan’s neck. Yang Hao shouted in alarm and struck with his shovel, knocking both Su Wan and the face to the ground.

The black-furred snake climbed onto Su Wan’s body, rearing up, its neck opening like a cobra, revealing a strange human face inside.

Even covered in scales, Li Cu recognized it—it was the face of that child, Shen Qiong. Coupled with the black fur of the snake, it looked like a snake with a human head.

“Monstrous!” Yang Hao spat. Su Wan had already lost consciousness, with urine spreading from his pants. “What do we do? I’ll go hit it; you drag Su Wan back.”

“When did you become so brave?” Li Cu asked in surprise.

“I’m only afraid of fresh corpses; I’ll destroy anything alive I see!” Yang Hao shouted, charging in to strike the head.

Unexpectedly, the creature was quite agile, quickly retreating and dodging. Yang Hao swung again, hitting Su Wan instead.

Su Wan’s body arched up, and he spat out water. The snake took the opportunity to coil onto the shovel and swiftly climbed up.

Yang Hao cursed, tossing the shovel aside. The snake quickly reached his hand, leaping up and surprisingly gliding through the air, twisting mid-flight before landing on Yang Hao’s shoulder.

In the blink of an eye, Li Cu, seeing this, grabbed the fire extinguisher and urged Yang Hao to spray it, bringing the snake down. Then he used the bottom of the extinguisher to hit the snake’s head twice.

The snake was evidently much more agile than the others; sparks flew as he struck, but he didn’t hit it at all. After two strikes, it suddenly sprang up.

Li Cu rolled on the spot, and halfway through, he exerted force at his waist to change direction. Sure enough, the snake soared into the air and opened its neck, able to change direction mid-flight. Unexpectedly, Li Cu also changed direction midway, missing the snake and landing on the ground. Yang Hao cursed and, with the power of a long-range shot during a soccer game, kicked the snake right on its neck.

The entire snake was kicked away like a cannonball, crashing into another freezer on the opposite side, rolling to the ground, and twitching a few times, yet it could still move. Yang Hao was indeed a forward, rushing over at high speed and kicking the freezer over, pinning the snake underneath. Then he jumped on top and stomped down furiously.

Whether it was a snake or a dragon, such stomping would surely turn it into minced meat.

Li Cu let out a sigh of relief and stepped forward, only to see the freezer door pushed open by Yang Hao, and a large mass of black hair rolled out from inside, all of it being that kind of snake. They were tangled together, just like the first freezer, scattered all over the ground.

1862 Chapter 24 – Express Delivery Company

Returning to Beijing, Li Cu was in the warehouse, completely unaware that he had entered a vast system. He was only pondering the matter of having the entire expedition team cut up and sent to him. Li Cu carefully sorted this out in his mind: Shen Qiong’s father ran a logistics company, which had been extended from a certain department of his father’s factory and contracted by Shen Qiong’s father. Many of the factory’s operations, which had developed from a downturn to some improvement, relied entirely on Shen Qiong’s father’s logistics company. There was definitely something fishy about this, but that detail was no longer important.

In this situation, if there were any relatively secret projects at his father’s factory, they would likely use a logistics company they trusted. In other words, unlike other external logistics companies, Shen Qiong’s father’s company turned a blind eye to many sensitive matters. This was why the guns and bodies could be delivered to him without difficulty. This was not a good sign.

Shen Qiong’s parents were found in this ice coffin, and their bodies had been dismembered, meaning they transported the remains of their own boss. Damn, who knows if there was a discount? All the dry corpses should not have been excavated from the civilized world, though it couldn’t be completely ruled out; the possibilities were just too numerous.

Li Cu wanted to know from which direction these items had been sent. Since it was Shen Qiong’s father’s company, if he could find his father, perhaps through his father’s connections, he could take a look inside the factory and investigate. His father’s current situation was also quite strange, making him a bit uneasy. Could it be that his father was a key point in all this? If that were the case, it was a fate he did not wish to see. Now that he had his father’s contact list, perhaps things would be easier from here on out.

He found an old subordinate of his father’s in the directory. This person’s surname was Rong and he was now the head of the technical department in the factory. This was one of the few profitable departments in the factory, so he should have some real power. Li Cu quickly dialed the number and explained his thoughts.

Director Rong readily agreed. Li Cu thought to himself that this indicated their cooperation with Shen Qiong’s father’s company was still quite active.

He arrived at the factory around 8 a.m. the next morning, and Uncle Rong had a vehicle sent to take him to Shen Qiong’s father’s company. Surprisingly, the company was still operating as usual. Once inside, he saw several employees who had delivered goods the day before. The company was not large; it was just a very small outlet in Beijing. He had over thirty such outlets in Beijing, but this one was likely the largest distribution center. All items arriving in Beijing should be categorized and redistributed here.

Upon entering the express room, he explained his purpose.

The person on the other side looked at him and said, “Do you know our boss?”

Your boss is currently lying in my freezer, Li Cu thought to himself.

He blew up his relationship with Shen Qiong’s father and then said, “I have a shipment that doesn’t have the recipient’s address; I don’t know who sent these items. Can you help me find out?”

The employees exchanged glances and said, “That’s not possible. Generally, the boss can check that himself; we don’t have the authority.”

He thought about how to extract information, but as a high school student, it was indeed difficult for him to threaten them. After some contemplation, he said, “Actually, I have a pretty good idea in my mind. What you guys are doing isn’t particularly serious. I’m not asking about your specific methods or who your clients are; I just want to know where these things are being sent from. Just give me a direction. If you don’t tell me, I will have to report it to the police, and they will come knocking on your door, which will cause you a lot of trouble.”

The few of them exchanged glances and said, “We’re just workers.”

“I know, so you don’t want to take the blame, right?”

The other side looked at him and said, “I know what you’re referring to. I remember your face. All these things are sent from Inner Mongolia.”

Li Cu asked, “All of them?”

The other party replied, “All of them. Our system is quite complete. Many of these goods cannot be exposed to light and cannot go through security checks, so all our goods are transported directly by truck. These trucks should have left Inner Mongolia three days ago and will arrive in Beijing three days later.”

Li Cu asked, “Why is it so slow?”

The other party said, “We can’t risk taking the highway.”

“If we take the national road all the way from Inner Mongolia to Beijing, won’t there be places to load and unload goods along the way?” Li Cu continued to ask.

The other party shook their head and said, “We all have seals. The seals from Inner Mongolia are intact and have not been opened. If we were to load and unload goods halfway, we wouldn’t be sharing trucks for this type of cargo. The transportation costs for these goods are very high, and we absolutely cannot cut corners; it has to be direct. We can’t save money on this. If even one item is lost, it will definitely cause big trouble.”

Li Cu nodded and asked, “So where is your boss now? Do you know?”

The few of them looked at each other and said, “Isn’t our boss on vacation?”

Li Cu asked, “Where is he traveling?”

The workers shook their heads, “We don’t know that. How can we know everything about our boss? We heard he went to the desert. Apparently, there’s a project over there. Isn’t your dad familiar with our boss? Maybe your dad knows too; this project is from their old factory.”

Li Cu rubbed his chin; things were pretty much as he had suspected. This matter was indeed related to his father’s factory. Shen Qiong’s parents had entered the desert with her—could it be the Danba Jilin?

Li Cu returned to the warehouse and saw Yang Hao and Su Wan sitting outside, both smoking.

Li Cu asked, “Are you guys willing to come back?”

Su Wan and Yang Hao exchanged a glance and said, “Mr. Li, we indeed lacked loyalty yesterday, and we looked down on ourselves. After some consideration, I decided to come over, and coincidentally, Yang Hao came as well, so we waited here for you. You have to understand us; this is our first time experiencing such things. Now, Yang Hao has decided that he will no longer be the leader of our little group; you will take on that role, and we will follow you. Yang Hao said that no matter how good he is at organizing and fighting, when it comes to smuggling arms and dismembering bodies, he cannot compare to you.”

Li Cu said, “Damn it, I didn’t do any of that. I just received these things.”

Su Wan replied, “Whether you did it or not, the fact that you can piece everything together so quickly and neatly is something we can’t even hope to achieve. So, boss, Da Li, we’ll follow you from now on, as long as you don’t dismember us.”

Li Cu kicked him, “Shut up! I don’t want to joke around with you right now. Since you really see me as the boss, does that mean you’ll listen to me?”

Su Wan and Yang Hao nodded, “As long as you don’t touch the bodies, we’ll listen to you.”

Li Cu said, “Alright, I’ll handle the bodies, and you help me carefully examine those boxes and all the little details inside. Check if there’s any hidden information or anything else I might not know.”

1861 Chapter 23 – The Secret in the Hidden Room

Liang Wan placed her hand firmly on the blueprint, a look of joy appearing on her face as she recalled a similar scene from Sherlock Holmes. She remembered reading about how Holmes had measured the exact location of a room. This hidden space must have a window; the hotel was very long with many rooms, and unless someone was very familiar with it, it would be difficult for an ordinary person to notice this detail.

She had to find this room. Liang Wan already had a rough idea in mind. She walked into the corridor, slowly pacing herself, counting her steps as she went. She noticed that even though there was a hidden room between her and the second room, this hidden room was very small, and she couldn’t accurately locate the entrance to it from the corridor.

“Could it be accessed through a window?” she wondered. That was impossible; the hotel’s outer walls were very smooth, and unless a rope was lowered from the roof, it would be impossible to enter through a window.

If it wasn’t through a window or the corridor, could there be an entrance to this hidden room inside the second or third room? Liang Wan returned to her own room and approached the wall near the second room. She touched and began to knock on the wall. The wall was a very simple concrete one, easy to knock on with a heavy echo, clearly not much insulation, but a concrete wall is still a wall; it was solid and could not be entered.

After knocking around the corner, Liang Wan discovered a large embedded wardrobe. She frowned, opened the wardrobe, and pushed against the back panel, feeling something was off.

Stepping inside the wardrobe, she pressed her fingers against the edge of the back panel. With a crack, she found that the panel was loose; a gentle push made it fall away, revealing a small space behind it, which indeed was an unrenovated concrete wall space. It must be a gap between the buildings, a space between the rooms.

Liang Wan stepped inside, and part of the light from her room shone into this space. The light was dim, insufficient to illuminate the small room, and the end of the room was completely dark. She took out her phone to shine a light, but the phone’s beam couldn’t illuminate the whole room, so she had to feel her way along the rough walls.

Eventually, she found a simple light switch. She pressed it, and the light turned on, revealing that the room was only two people wide, long and narrow. On the wall at the end of the room was a window, but there was some device placed on the windowsill.

In the middle of the room was a table stacked with a thick layer of documents and a notebook. Liang Wan confirmed that there was no one in this room.

She walked to the window, realizing that the shadow she had seen earlier must have come through this window. She also noticed that the entire back of the window was painted the same color as the outer wall, but the window itself was made of glass, a complete unit. Inside the window was a semi-transparent wallpaper that matched the color of the outer wall, and behind this wallpaper was a strange projector, which seemed to be remote-controlled.

On the other side of the projector, she found a mobile phone. She opened the phone and discovered that a call had just come in.

It is obvious that this projector is controlled by a mobile phone signal. There is a human-shaped obstruction on the projector lens. When a call comes in, the backlight turns on, projecting the shadow of the entire obstruction onto the window. Because the wallpaper on the back of this window is the same as the exterior wall, during the day, or when the projection light is off, it should look exactly like the outside wall from the outside. Others cannot tell that this is a window, and clearly, this design is quite innovative. However, the room itself is very rudimentary.

She thought for a moment and called the number back, but all she got was a disconnected tone. It seems that this number and this phone were only meant to be used once. Since that’s the case, she decided not to be polite. She tucked the phone into her pocket and turned to look at the folder on the table. When she opened it, Liang Wan saw a large number of design blueprints.

This is a type of professional drawing paper that is supposed to be dense and tough, but now it has yellowed and feels greasy, looking very soft, which suggests it has been stored for a very long time and has suffered significant moisture damage. Upon closer inspection, some of the blueprints seemed to be in a chaotic state, merely sealed inside plastic.

Liang Wan counted; there were as many as twenty-seven sheets. On the back of the last blueprint was a half A4-sized note. All the blueprints had strange stains resembling urine, but the edges of these stains were very clear. She sniffed and discovered they might be bloodstains.

The bloodstains appeared to be sprayed, looking quite frightening, but there were no black spots, indicating that someone had attempted to wipe them but had not cleaned thoroughly. This already says a lot; these documents must have been salvaged by Jie Yuchen from somewhere. With so much blood, there must be quite a story behind it.

Liang Wan carefully picked it up and saw written inside: “Your next step is to memorize all the information on these blueprints. Remember, the clearer you remember, the greater the help to them, and the better their chances of survival. If you act recklessly, this child may lose their life. After memorizing everything, burn all the materials in this room. Remember, these items must not leave this room.”

Liang Wan felt perplexed. How could she do anything without leaving this room, especially when there was no one around? These are all pieces of evidence; she wouldn’t listen to that. She noticed that the blueprint was numbered 033, with the label “Gulongjing Station No. 1.” She recalled what Li Cuo had told her and suddenly realized that the connections between them seemed very complex. This blueprint appeared to be for a building constructed in the desert area of Gulongjing. The style of the blueprints and the markings seemed to be from the 1980s.

What kind of building could this be? She sat down and began to browse through the materials.

In just half an hour, she had finished reading everything. Her first reaction was anger; not to mention memorizing these blueprints, she might not even be able to replicate one accurately. Her second reaction was confusion, as she noticed a strange phenomenon in these blueprints. All the blueprints depicted a designer, and each designer had an age.

“All these designers or painters are very young, all only in their teens. These drawings were made by children; at least, at the time they created them, these designers were children. Why?”

1860 Chapter 22 – The Secret Room

Liang Wan asked him, “Can’t you come out and talk to me?”

The other party replied, “It’s already quite dangerous for you to come to Hangzhou to find us and engage with us. What I need to do now is to separate the incident from myself, so I will avoid contacting you as much as possible. Moreover, the fewer connections I have with the truly important person, the safer that person will be. So your most important task right now is to be my liaison with Li Cu, everything else is not important. The items in that package might help you understand the ins and outs of this incident better.”

Liang Wan hung up the phone, contemplating all the information this person had shared. She felt that, on the surface, the logic seemed coherent. But if things were that dangerous and secretive, wouldn’t it also be risky for him to discuss these matters over the phone? If the person he was wary of had the power to control who he could meet, then why was he able to frequently make phone calls? In TV dramas, aren’t phone calls easier to monitor than face-to-face meetings?

Perhaps every line of work has its own habits; she couldn’t worry about that too much.

One more thing bothered her: she felt she understood the background of Li Cu very well, so why had he suddenly become so important? Why was she being made the liaison?

She glanced at the neon lights across the street; it was almost dawn. The Chongqing hotpot restaurant wouldn’t open for another four to five hours. It would be better to get some sleep, but her heart was racing, and she knew that at this critical moment, she wouldn’t be able to sleep even if she wanted to.

So she opened her suitcase, pulled out a pair of form-fitting pants that looked decent—her only pair of pants—and found a pair of flat shoes. Wrapping herself in a coat, she made her way to the hotpot restaurant downstairs.

She peeked inside; it was pitch black, and the door was locked with a large padlock. The frosted glass door was covered in grease, making it clear that getting in early was unlikely.

Liang Wan looked around and noticed a fire escape nearby, made of iron, which seemed to be an illegal structure in this location. The iron door of the staircase wasn’t locked very tightly, and her petite frame seemed small enough to squeeze through.

Following the staircase, she figured she could reach the second floor. The door leading inside on the second floor was tightly locked, but since the staircase was on the outside of the building, she could climb up to the neon light frame and walk along it to reach the outer wall of the building. While this was quite dangerous, it was the only option.

Liang Wan thought for a moment; it was just the third window on that side, it shouldn’t be too difficult. She squeezed through the iron door to the second floor and began counting—one, two, three—to see how far the third window was. After counting, she felt a hint of doubt, counted again, and realized she was mistaken. There were only two windows on the second floor of the Chongqing hotpot restaurant, there was no third window at all.

What a strange occurrence; there are always odd things happening every year, but this year seems especially full of them. This person spoke like he was just making things up—didn’t he say there were three windows? How could there only be two?

Liang Wan’s anger flared, and she thought to herself how unreliable he was. Had they been in this line of work for so long that they couldn’t even count?

This Chongqing hot pot restaurant is also a converted farmer’s house, facing two buildings. One side is a transformed small hotel, while the other side consists of various dining establishments converted from farmer’s houses. The result is quite clear—there are no ventilation windows or exhaust fan openings, just two square windows.

“Could it be that I’m just being played?” Liang Wan thought to herself, occasionally glancing up to see if that person had made a mistake and was actually referring to the second window. But the exterior wall was clean, with nothing on it. She couldn’t understand it, leaning on the railing, looking around while pondering, hoping that there were other Chongqing hot pot restaurants nearby.

As she looked around, she glanced back across to see that the light in her room was still on, while some of the neon lights at the hotel had already gone out. She saw her room, and under the light, she noticed a figure standing at her window.

That person was also looking at her. They locked eyes for half a minute, and she suddenly realized that someone was in her room.

“You bastard, trying to lure me away?!” Liang Wan shouted angrily, unable to hold back a curse. She pulled out her phone to call the police while desperately climbing back and running downstairs. In the chaos, she didn’t manage to dial 110. She banged on the front desk and said, “There’s a thief in my room.”

The front desk called the old security guard who was still asleep, and the three of them rushed to the second floor, opened Liang Wan’s room door, and found that there was no one inside; the lock was intact.

The three of them exchanged glances, and the old security guard muttered a few curses in the local dialect. Liang Wan was baffled. She walked over to the window and looked outside, her heart sinking.

She noticed a very strange phenomenon: the angle from which she looked out of the window was different from the angle from which the person in the hot pot restaurant looked in. In other words, she thought that person was standing in her room, but in fact, they should have been in the room next to hers.

The window she saw was from the neighboring room, and she had made a mistake. However, another question arose in her mind: each room only had one window, and her room was the third one. This meant that when she counted her room number, she saw the figure from the window of the third room.

But now, looking out from her room’s window, she realized that her room was not directly facing the second floor across the street. This meant that the third room window she counted from the outside was not her room.

In other words, one of the two rooms next to hers likely had two windows. She turned to ask the attendant about this, but he shook his head and said, “That’s impossible; all our room types are the same, and each room only has one window.”

Just as Liang Wan was about to argue with him, wanting to take him across to take a look, she suddenly recalled what the person on the phone had said earlier: the third window on the west side across the street.

Suddenly, she grasped the intricacies of the situation. After the attendant left, she found some hotel stationery, laid it out on the table, and began to draw a diagram.

She first sketched the order of the farmer’s houses on both sides of the street and the order of the hotel, then gradually reasoned out the dimensions step by step.

She soon confirmed that if things were indeed as the staff at the store said, and if all the rooms in this hotel had the same layout, then the third window facing the Chongqing hotpot restaurant across the street definitely wasn’t what she referred to as the third room; it was likely the fourth room. That’s right, there must be a hidden space between her room and the second room next door!

1859 Chapter 21 – Next Steps Plan

Li Cu suddenly felt that his way of thinking was becoming increasingly strange; he had been made somewhat neurotic by the series of recent events. Shaking his head, Li Cu understood that, aside from his own home, it was impossible for him to stay in a warehouse, and going to Su Wan’s house would mean he couldn’t expect any peace tonight.

He went to his father’s study, flipping through his father’s letters and contact books, hoping to find some information about Shen Qiong’s parents. He couldn’t quite remember the nature of the relationship between his father and Shen Qiong’s father, only that they at least worked within the same system—or at the very least, they knew each other.

He hoped to find some information about Shen Qiong in this study so he could understand the role her family played in the incident. Soon, he pulled out an old address book, which included a list of contacts from one of his father’s class reunions. Li Cu examined it closely and finally found Shen Qiong’s father’s name. After looking at the company where Shen Qiong’s father worked, he was taken aback; Shen Qiong’s father was in logistics, which explained why he had business dealings with his father—his father’s factory had very high logistics requirements during its mid-stage.

Li Cu rubbed his face and looked at the name of Shen Qiong’s father’s logistics company, realizing that he was quite familiar with it; it was the same company that transported corpses for him.

Aha. Li Cu thought to himself, oh, so this is how things work.

Meanwhile, as Li Cu was deep in thought, things were rapidly changing on the other side.

A few days earlier, on a small road in Chang’an Town, Jie Yuchen walked alone in silence. As he had expected, Li Cu did not come down from the building; the child did not yet understand the meaning of taking initiative. Under the heavy pressure of such a complex situation, he often chose to think and hesitate.

This is the most common mistake people make at the beginning.

In fact, at such times, one should catch up with him, clarify the questions, and resolve them; that would be the most convenient way and the best method to disrupt the plans of the person behind it all.

Of course, if that little brat really did that, would he have a way to deal with him?

Of course, he did.

Jie Yuchen continued walking, pulling out a handkerchief from his clothes to wipe off his makeup. The final delicate and pretty face revealed itself from beneath the heavy makeup; her waist did not appear stiff. Her figure did not become tall; instead, her agile movements while walking enhanced her gracefulness.

Finally, she pinched her throat and pulled out a pendant that had been pressing on her vocal cords from her collar, tossing it into a nearby trash can. She coughed a few times and realized she had regained Liang Wan’s voice.

The first time she encountered such a technique, she was also surprised. She had once wanted to imitate it, but using this ancient method was incredibly complex, with hidden tricks that couldn’t simply be replicated through ordinary analysis. That was why she had to use an opposite approach today.

Liang Wan walked along the road and arrived at the hotel a hundred meters away. She entered, went to her room, kicked off her high heels, and felt her feet relax completely. She went to the vanity, carefully checked her face to see if her makeup was all clean. She took out her small bag and used the makeup remover inside to cleanse her face. Once all the makeup was removed, she began to take off her clothes, slowly revealing her figure.

Liang Wan looked at her body in the mirror. She had been so tense that her body had been almost completely stiff just moments ago, and now many parts of her body were still sore. Even posing in various ways didn’t feel natural.

She thought to herself: This little boy really hasn’t experienced women. With a body like mine, so soft and natural, he actually believes this is a man.

I’ll give you a taste of it, Liang Wan thought, suddenly feeling a bit wicked.

She walked into the bathroom and took a refreshing hot shower. Afterward, she sat back on the bed, took a deep breath, and pulled out her personal safety spray from her bag. Turning it over, she noticed a line of fine print on the label: a phone number.

That man was really sneaky; in such an intense situation, when did he manage to write that down? She couldn’t recall.

She had discovered this number at a gas station supermarket on the way to this small town while talking to Li Cu. She had dialed the number at that moment and heard the other party’s voice.

It was a private line for Xie Yuchen, who gave her a few simple instructions over the phone.

“If you want to meet that person, you can only do as I say,” he said.

Clearly, the other party was very well-informed about everything.

Now she had successfully sent Li Cu away; it was time to call that number again.

She felt a bit nervous, an irresistible tension that wouldn’t ease no matter how much she tried to relax. Taking a shower had made her feel a bit more comfortable; otherwise, she might not have been able to articulate her thoughts.

She closed her eyes, then picked up the room’s cordless phone and dialed the number. Soon, the other party answered. The first thing they asked was, “Did he notice any flaws?”

Liang Wan replied, “Not for now, but that might change in the future.”

Xie Yuchen was silent for a moment before saying, “You don’t need to think about the future.”

Liang Wan said, “I definitely won’t think about it; I just want to know what I should do next. Will you keep your promise and let me meet him?”

The other party replied, “Yes. Our family’s tradition is not to scheme against women.”

“Then tell me what I should do next. I will complete everything very quickly.”

“Do you think you are the main character in this event? You’re not; that little boy is the main character, so completing everything quickly won’t help me much. Of course, if you have that thought, you can still do something now. Stand up and walk to the window.”

The tone of the other party annoyed her a bit, but she was an adult and could suppress her emotions.

Liang Wan stood up and walked to the window. Leaning against the edge, she pulled the window open a crack and looked outside. What she saw was the neon sign of the Chongqing hot pot restaurant across the street, flickering incessantly, with a few light tubes seemingly broken.

The person on the phone said, “Four months ago, I placed a package behind that neon light. You need to go to the second floor of that restaurant and open the third window on the west side. The package is right below the window, taped to the wall. I don’t know if it’s still there, but you can check. The package contains your entire plan for the next step.”

1858 Chapter 20 – Someone Came to the House

He was not afraid at all. If these corpses could come back to life, he could ask them to clarify everything that had happened. He even hoped they could come back to life, especially Shen Qiong. He closed his eyes, and the image of Shen Qiong’s broken body floated in his mind—such a beautiful figure, a high school girl, pure, soft, and radiant with the warmth of youth, now lying shattered on the ground.

As he closed his eyes, he became hazy and felt that his memories of Shen Qiong were slowly becoming clearer in his mind. Yes, he had never really noticed this girl, and she had never noticed him either. Perhaps it was because of their appearances; when they first met, they would naturally glance at each other a few more times, but that was it—she never lingered in Li Cuo’s mind.

Now, the words he had heard and the images he had seen flashed in his mind, and he felt as if he was about to fall in love with this girl. He thought he was being very strange. He didn’t know what kind of emotion this was. Was it regret? If he could have influenced this girl’s life, why didn’t he do anything instead of letting them pass by each other time and time again? What if they had dated? What if they had become good friends? Maybe he could have changed her fate.

But now, it was too late to say anything. Li Cuo didn’t want to see such a life perish so easily. He didn’t want to witness the fragility and unpredictability of life. This was something everyone could understand; the emotions and confusion in his heart could not be expressed, turning into a very strange feeling.

When Li Cuo woke up from the rattan chair, Su Wan had already left, and Yang Hao had not returned. He glanced at the time; by this hour, they should have been back long ago. Even if it was just to use the restroom or change clothes, there was enough time.

He called Su Wan’s phone, only to find it was turned off. Li Cuo knew Su Wan’s character and understood what was going on. Still, he cursed under his breath. He called Yang Hao’s phone, but it was out of service.

Frustrated, he tossed the phone aside. At that moment, he was even more confused about himself. In such a situation, most people would be in a panic, so why was he still so calm?

Could it be true, as Wu Xie said, that he had some kind of gift? He didn’t believe it; his past told him he was just an ordinary boy, nothing special at all.

He stood up and shook his sore arms. The corpses would soon rot and stink if left here. He had to think of a way. But it was already late, and he had no place to find any ice-making equipment. He had no choice but to go out, searching for small shops with freezers, and bought these freezers and their contents at three times the market price.

By around four or five in the morning, he had collected six or seven old freezers. He carefully placed the corpses inside. After completing this task, Li Cuo’s heart had calmed down.

Then, he began to dismantle the remaining boxes. There were nearly seventeen of them, all containing desiccated corpses just like the previous ones.

Li Cu had gained some experience this time. He activated the switch behind the corpses, causing them to sit up on their own. Then, he went to check the hidden compartments beneath the coffins to see if there was anything inside.

As expected, behind all the corpses were severed hands. Li Cu carefully organized his thoughts and concluded that the items were divided into three categories: the first category consisted of weapons and various food and equipment for exploration; the second category was the dried corpses; and the third category was fresh bodies. In his imagination, all of this could be pieced together into a story.

Everyone and everything here were elements of a single exploration accident. The dried corpses were likely found at the exploration site during the incident. Judging by the level of desiccation, these mummies had been around for a long time, suggesting they were items discovered at the exploration destination.

The exploration equipment must have been sent back after the expedition was completed, belonging to the remaining supplies of the exploration team. The fresh bodies presumably belonged to the exploration team itself. In other words, all the exploration gear and items discovered during the expedition had been sent back. Someone had packaged an entire exploration team, including its members, the artifacts they unearthed, and all their equipment, and sent it to him in pieces.

Though twisted, it was also quite impressive.

What needed to be understood now was why everything from the exploration team was sent back as a whole. Something must have happened during the expedition. Were they killed? Did someone think it was too troublesome and decided to send them back?

It couldn’t be that illogical.

It felt like a demonstration, similar to a scene in a martial arts film where a master goes to kill a villain, only to be killed by the villain instead. The villain ties the master’s shattered body to a horse, letting it find its way back home, making others believe he has returned victorious. However, when the horse sees its stable, it starts to run, causing the body to break apart from the jostling. Everyone suffers in despair.

It was like an old Hong Kong movie plot, but it was quite fitting. Was someone trying to prevent these people from exploring by killing the exploration team and using this method to threaten them?

But why send it to him? He wasn’t the one who dispatched them.

Li Cu found it difficult to rationalize all these changes and possibilities. He recalled what Le Yu Chen had said: if the other party did something, there must be a reason behind it. Therefore, all the information should be present.

Li Cu couldn’t figure out the connections in the items that had been sent back; he just hadn’t looked closely enough yet. He told himself not to rush and to take it slow, believing that there would eventually be a breakthrough in the events. Because if the other party was sure he couldn’t solve these puzzles, they wouldn’t have sent all these things to him.

Li Cu didn’t stay in the warehouse; he walked back, preparing to take a taxi home. What weighed most on his mind was actually the situation with Shen Qiong. Both Shen Qiong’s parents and she herself had been murdered. Shen Qiong’s parents had a significant connection to his own family, and he recalled that his father had been acting strangely lately. Could this matter be related to his father?

Was it really just a coincidence that he was embedded in this event? He recalled some strange containers he had seen in the desert, which he remembered from when he was very young. All the clues seemed to suggest an inevitable possibility: he was not chosen by chance, but rather selected. This selection was certainly not some kind of divine choice, but a human one.

If he was indeed chosen, then Huang Yan must have inscribed something on his back, indicating that he already knew his identity. Why? He was well aware that he was just an ordinary high school student with no value to be exploited.

After Li Cu returned home, he found that no one was there; his father still hadn’t come back. However, the paper that had been in the drawer was now placed on the table. Li Cu opened the drawer and discovered that all the blueprints had been taken, leaving only some red hundred-yuan bills behind.

He had often lived this way before; his father frequently had social engagements and couldn’t take care of him, leaving him to fend for himself.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of insecurity at home. What if it wasn’t his father who took the documents? What if someone else had come to his house, just to show him that all his actions were under the other’s scrutiny?

1857 Chapter Nineteen – The Corpse of a Friend?

Such a beautiful girl, who should have been living in her prime, is now dismembered into pieces, her body shattered in the box right in front of him.

Su Wan came over to take a look and immediately collapsed to the ground, saying to Li Zu, “This… this is Shen Qiong.”

Li Zu, who wasn’t as well-connected as Su Wan, felt that this woman looked very familiar but couldn’t recall where he had seen her before.

Su Wan said, “Didn’t Shen Qiong go to another city with her father? How did it end up like this?”

Li Zu then remembered that this girl should have been from the same school; he had seen her once or twice on the playground during morning exercises when they first enrolled. Later, he heard that she had immigrated with her father. It now seemed that the place they went to was not what they had imagined.

Why did he have such a faint impression of Shen Qiong? Of course, it was because the girl was beautiful, and on another note, Shen Qiong’s parents had worked at the same unit as his parents, so they must have had some interactions when they were young. Many small connections might fade away over time, but they would never completely sever, which made him feel a certain familiarity when looking at this girl compared to others.

“Is it really Shen Qiong?”

“I used to pursue her; I was crazy about her back then. How could I be mistaken?”

Li Zu frowned. Seeing her body in front of him was shocking and left him feeling at a loss. Gradually, his emotions shifted from shock and fear to calmness and then to anger.

He was always contemplating, and compared to Wu Xie, who would never let anger cloud his judgment, Li Zu’s temperament was much fiercer. He kicked the coffin hard, his inner fury intensifying. He felt these people were incredibly twisted; what kind of person could dismember such a beautiful girl he had grown up with and send her to him?

“Fuck her mother!” Li Zu yelled at the warehouse door, as if the mastermind was right outside.

He took a deep breath and started laying out the heads one by one on the warehouse floor, then began to rummage through other coffins, pulling out the body parts inside. He suddenly no longer cared about anything, no longer feared the blood that stained his clothes, nor did he fear the coldness; he just wanted to piece them all together.

Many things initially feel terrifying, but once you become numb to them, they seem inconsequential.

Su Wan and Yang Hao had not come to help; they clearly did not share Li Zu’s empathetic feelings, leaving him alone to piece things together.

Soon, Li Zu had assembled thirteen bodies on the ground. When he finished putting Shen Qiong’s body together, he took off his clothes and draped them over her body, kneeling in front of her and beginning to cry uncontrollably. It was not sadness; it was a breakdown.

He suddenly felt a moment of daze. He realized that the unique sense of exhilaration he had felt before, the feeling of being destined for accelerated growth, made him proud. He felt he finally had a reason to escape his current life, even to look down on others and become the true chosen one in his heart.

He realized he had watched too much television and read too many novels, forming a strange pathology.

When one is truly caught in a certain fate, it is impossible to let all emotions pass through them. What is called fate, what is called accelerated growth, what is called being plotted against—all the confusion and the accompanying pain are burdens that someone of this age cannot bear.

After Li Cu cried, he found Shen Qiong’s parents among the thirteen corpses and gathered them together. He said to Su Wan, “This time we’ve really gotten into big trouble.”

In other circumstances, if the bodies had no names, he could handle them in his own way. But now these bodies have identities. Should he call the police? Should he notify Shen Qiong’s other relatives?

Otherwise, what should he do? He can’t just keep hiding these bodies; the pressure in his heart is too great.

He calmly thought for a moment and remembered many things that the person named Xie Yuchen had told him. He said that the other party sent these things to him for a reason, and that purpose must be hidden within all the items. He had to ponder carefully.

He really couldn’t do it before, but now he felt he had no way out.

Li Cu examined the bodies, pressing on their abdomens and other parts to see if anything was hidden inside. He kept silently praying that there wouldn’t be anything inside; he really didn’t have the courage to dissect the corpses.

He was just a high school student and didn’t want to bear such a “chosen one” fate. Which chosen one, which man bound by fate, has a destiny of constantly receiving corpses and cutting them open to find things?

After the examination, there was nothing inside the corpses’ abdomens. However, Li Cu discovered something intriguing: each of the thirteen corpses had a palm-sized scar on them, made with a very small blade.

The scars had already scabbed over, and each scar seemed to be different. Because his own back had been cut in a way reminiscent of erotic art, Li Cu vaguely felt that these scars were somehow related to the scar on his own back.

He took photos of each scar with his phone, planning to go back and see if he could piece them together on a computer to see if any clues emerged.

There were also a few very young boys’ corpses, about the same age as Shen Qiong, lives that had fallen in their prime. He arranged the bodies and noticed that Su Wan and Yang Hao had retreated to the doorway at some point, almost ready to escape.

Li Cu thought to himself, forget it, feeling cold all over. He walked up to them and said, “If you don’t want to stay here, that’s fine. We need an ice machine. Do you know where we can buy one?”

After a moment of hesitation, Yang Hao said, “I know there’s a square that sells refrigeration equipment.”

Li Cu replied, “Then you need to go buy three or four machines for me right away. It’s going to get dark soon, and if we wait too long, we won’t be able to buy any. You need to hurry, but you must come back.”

Yang Hao asked, “Can I think about it first?”

Li Cu said, “Bro, I don’t want to do this either. I’m a victim too. The most important thing in this world is loyalty. Don’t be so ungrateful, okay?”

Yang Hao could only smile wryly and said, “Money.”

Li Cu gave the money to Yang Hao, who then ran off like a rabbit. Su Wan looked at Yang Hao with envy and said to Li Cu, “What can I help you buy?”

Li Cu said, “I’ve already taken care of all the bodies myself. I’ve finished dismantling them. Now, can you open all the remaining boxes for me? I’m really tired and need to rest for a while.”

Su Wan looked at the boxes, sighed deeply, and shook his head, saying, “How about this: I’ll give you a back rub. You go wash up and change your clothes first, and then I’ll give you a proper massage. After that, you can continue working.”

Li Cu was indeed too exhausted to move. In the corner of the warehouse, there was a reclining chair left over from when the warehouse manager used it. He lay down on the chair, closed his eyes, and asked Su Wan to buy some dinner before starting to rest there.

1856 Chapter 18 – There Are Other Things in the Coffin

Struggling to rise from the pile of heads, Li Cu stumbled and tried to run a bit further away. In his panic, he accidentally stepped on a head, slipped again just as he got up, and fell back to where he started. Looking down, he saw that his foot was tangled in hair, and Li Cu completely broke down, kicking the hair off forcefully.

All of this happened in less than two seconds; before Li Cu could get up, the cardboard box nearby suddenly moved, and something as thick as an arm sprang out from the pile of boxes, striking him right in the neck.

By reflex, Li Cu reached out to grab it, but only caught a greasy piece of it, which he yanked off and threw to the ground. Unexpectedly, that thing bounced back like a spring and lunged at his chest. This time, it hit him hard enough to cause a sharp pain, clearly indicating that it had some strength.

Li Cu was completely driven mad. He cursed loudly and yanked that thing down again, slamming it to the ground. This time, before it could bounce back, he stomped down hard on it. Instantly, it coiled around his foot. Li Cu reached into a nearby coffin and grabbed a human head, smashing it down onto that creature.

He smashed it until it oozed brown liquid and completely fell limp. Only then did Li Cu slowly catch his breath. Pulling his foot back from the creature’s body, he realized it was actually a thick black snake, or rather, it seemed to be the thickness of an arm because it was covered in hair-like black fur.

Now split into two pieces, it was still writhing but gradually weakening. He picked up a longer piece of cardboard from the pile and poked at it. At that moment, he heard teeth clashing behind him. Turning around, he saw Su Wan and Yang Hao staring at him, clearly having rushed over after hearing the noise.

Li Cu looked at them, and they looked back at him. He noticed Su Wan’s gaze was not on the strange snake but on his hand. Looking down, he saw that he was holding the smashed human head, which made him shudder and drop it back into the coffin.

“Did your T-virus act up? Did you bite it or smash it?” Su Wan asked. Seeing Li Cu’s eyes were red as he stared at him, he quickly added, “Good zombies don’t eat their buddies.”

Li Cu pointed his chin at the thing on the ground, and only then did they notice the snake. However, they still didn’t approach it. Yang Hao asked, “What is this?”

“The fact that you still have the ability to complain means your mental fortitude is better than mine. You should go take a look,” Li Cu replied. Yang Hao shook his head, took the long piece of cardboard from Li Cu’s hands, poked at the creature, and revealed a confused expression, saying, “This seems like a snake.”

“This is a snake,” Su Wan said. “The question is, what’s with all this hair?”

“A new species, I guess.”

Yang Hao dropped the cardboard and looked at Li Cu, who recounted what had just happened: “It probably crawled in when they were packing the bodies, and it froze inside because it was all ice. So, this means the place these things were sent from must be in the wild, and this kind of snake is roaming around there.”

Yang Hao glanced at the coffin: “Then maybe you shouldn’t mess with it anymore; there might be more inside.”

Li Cu kicked a few coffins but found no further movement. Shaking his head, he said, “It can’t be that lucky that every box has one. Are they trying to kill me by sending so many snakes?” He felt it wasn’t necessary to complicate things further.

If it were Wu Xie, he wouldn’t think this way. Although Li Cu was still somewhat cautious, he only felt that things had become even stranger. Where on earth did these things come from, and why was there such a bizarrely long snake?

After they silently looked at each other, Li Cu’s gaze refocused on the coffin. He stubbed out the cigarette he had just lit and said, “We have to continue.” Turning around, he saw that the two people had retreated behind him again, their speed comparable to Bolt.

He sighed, thinking to himself that he had chosen his friends poorly. He squatted down. He had to rely on himself.

Even with a thousand kinds of courage, Li Cu didn’t dare to reach directly into the coffin to pull out the head. Even as he got closer, his hands were shaking. This was really different from a mummified corpse; a mummified corpse is an object, very light, and many times you get the illusion that it is fake, not the same kind of thing as you. But these corpses were still very full, their moisture not yet lost, looking as if they could still talk to you. Moreover, when lifted, they felt heavy and had a strong drag, making him feel like they might slip from his hands and roll onto him at any moment.

He tried several times but couldn’t manage to lift the head out of the water. He could only use the method of aesthetic fatigue, forcing himself to stare at the head, gradually getting used to his disgust for these things. But most of the heads were seen from the side or back, obscured by hair. He was particularly afraid of the moment when the head was lifted, the hair flying away, and the face suddenly appearing.

Who knows what expression these people had when they died?

This couldn’t go on; Su Wan and the others were almost retreating to Wangfujing. If they continued to stall, they would have to retreat to Hebei tonight.

Li Cu used a stick from the warehouse to poke at the heads, flipping one of the faces upright. To his surprise, it was a woman’s head.

What he didn’t expect was that these people’s heads were all very young. Young enough to be around the same age as him. Li Cu had originally thought he would see middle-aged or even elderly people, because in his worldview, those who experienced such things would definitely be older. He didn’t expect to see someone from the same age group as him.

He pushed aside the hair on the head, and when he saw the swollen face that was vaguely recognizable, his legs went weak. He turned back and said, “Su Wan, come here for a moment.”

“Li Cu, I haven’t finished my homework yet; I’m going back first,” Su Wan called from a distance. When Li Cu looked back, he saw that he had already called a taxi at the entrance.

“Damn it!” Li Cu shouted, “If you dare to leave, I’ll expose everything! You’ll be implicated in dismemberment and hiding firearms while reading adult comics!!”

“Damn it, that’s you! I’m the one taking the blame! Do you have any conscience?!” Su Wan shouted back.

“You better get over here, or I’ll die with you! I’ll hang myself on your front door!” Li Cu roared angrily. “You leave me here alone; you’re the one without a conscience! Think back to when you crashed your dad’s car—who helped you take the blame?”

There was silence on both sides, and the taxi behind Su Wan quietly drove away. Yang Hao looked at the two of them and asked Su Wan, “Did you crash your dad’s car? Wasn’t it the pear that crashed it?”

Su Wan’s face turned bright red, and after holding it in for a long time, he said, “Fine, do whatever you want.” He then walked over to Li Cu.

Holding his nose, he walked over to Li Cu. Li Cu pointed at the head and asked him, “Do you think we’ve seen this person before?”

It was a very young girl; her looks weren’t particularly striking, but for girls of that era, someone who looked like her could already be considered a little beauty. She was probably about the same age as Li Cu.

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