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24986 Chapter 6 – Things in the Sunken Ship

In the latter half of the 15th century, a phenomenon known as the “Ship of Fools” emerged in Germany. Cities would hand over the insane individuals within their jurisdictions to passing sailors, who would gather them onto a single ship and let them drift between towns. Among these madmen were not a few philosophers and poets. Sometimes, sailors would navigate to desolate areas between towns to exile them, resulting in groups of crazed individuals aimlessly gathering in the wilderness.

However, it soon became less romantic. After leprosy began to spread widely, lepers were also sent aboard the Ship of Fools. These patients were taken to isolated islands to fend for themselves. This is the infamous “leper ship.”

Coincidentally, during the late Ming Dynasty, when the plague was rampant, some people sent their severely ill relatives aboard large ships heading out to sea from Dongying—there were a total of sixty-seven ships, traveling south along the eastern coast toward the South Seas. At that time, everyone knew that once these sailors ventured into the open sea, they might throw all the sick people overboard to drown. Yet, they still sent their relatives onto the ships, as the plague had ravaged northern China for too long, and everyone hoped for an end to this disaster.

The plague that was prevalent at that time, according to historical records, should have been the bubonic plague. Rodent activity was particularly erratic, and there were numerous accounts in local chronicles and literature of rats swimming across rivers. However, there were also various plagues known by other names, such as “Big Head Plague” and “Green Line Plague,” with reports of dozens of co-occurring plagues. It was said that during conversations, someone might suddenly shake their head and then die, causing the crowd to scatter, with corpses rotting in the streets, hundreds on display, and the stench overwhelming.

The large ships sailing out from Dongying were essentially plague ships, carrying hundreds of sick individuals crammed into the cargo hold, with the dead decaying beside them, only to be thrown into the sea days later. However, historical records indicate that many of these plague ships not only did not abandon the sick but actually made it to the South Seas and even came ashore, with some individuals recovering and settling there.

Here, people are excavating a plague ship, which makes perfect sense. If the plague ship had traveled to the South Seas and then run aground and sunk here, after hundreds of years, the entire ship would be enveloped by coral reefs.

There are numerous reefs here, and if one were to search for them stone by stone, it would indeed take ten years. But now, judging by the scale of the operation here, it seems they have found something.

The officer appears to be dead. Zhang Haiyan hears footsteps outside and wipes the blood from his hands on the officer’s clothing. He tells Zhang Haixia, “Continue reading, find something interesting to read.”

As he speaks, he pulls out three golden needles from his belt and stabs them into his throat.

As the golden needles pierce his throat, he coughs a few times, and his voice changes. He whispers a few words, adjusting the position of the needles, and his voice transforms into that of the officer.

Zhang Haixia continues, “Look, this here cites ancient texts. A doctor from Dongying recorded a plague that came from the south, called the ‘Wudou Disease.’ The Wudou Disease spreads particularly quickly; from the discovery of the first case to the death of an entire village, it only takes a month. Could it be that the plague ship they are looking for contains patients with the Wudou Disease?”

Zhang Haiyan touched his neck, took the documents, and Zhang Haixia quickly hid in a corner. Zhang Haiyan put on the officer’s uniform and stood behind the table, using the body to cover his pants, then turned his back to the outside.

Just then, the sentry above heard the gunfire and came over, asking, “Adjutant, what was that gunfire about?”

“Someone just sneaked in, but they have already fled,” Zhang Haiyan replied, still facing away from the outside as if sorting through the documents, his voice almost identical. “Search the entire ship for them; we need to speed things up. What’s the current situation?”

The sentry immediately signaled to the people below and continued to report, “We’re about to dig into the hold; we need to be extra careful, afraid that something inside might come out.”

Zhang Haiyan’s eyes darted around as he thought, what could come out? He slightly turned his head to glance at Zhang Haixia’s face in the darkness, who also seemed very interested.

Zhang Haiyan continued to ask the sentry, “Let me quiz you. If you’re worried about something coming out from inside, what preparations should you make?”

“You mean, let those laborers do the digging? As long as we apply the ointment, we’ll be fine, isn’t that enough? The people who died over the years were all dealt with this way, sealed with salt, and we thought that was sufficient.”

Zhang Haiyan didn’t quite understand, but he kept his eyes moving, knowing that prolonging the standoff was not good. He waved his hand, “Tell the people below that we must break through tonight, no matter what it takes. Zhang Qishan’s men have already arrived.”

The sentry visibly relaxed and immediately stepped back out. Zhang Haiyan flipped through the documents; there was no mention of what was on the plague ship. He thought it was strange—if something was about to come out, what could it be? The ship had sunk for hundreds of years; what kind of monster could still survive inside?

24985 Chapter 5 – The Plague Ship of the South China Sea

Zhang Haiyan leaned in again but saw no more information. He leaned back into the shadows, puzzled, and asked, “What’s under that reef?”

“You think over the past ten years, have they only been digging this one reef, or have they excavated all the reefs here?” Zhang Haixia asked.

Zhang Haiyan nodded; he understood what Haixia meant. But what could be under the reef? The reef was just the top of an underwater mountain covered by coral, and if they had excavated all the reefs here, was there some special mineral within the reefs? Or perhaps the ancient coral reefs contained some precious treasures?

“Shall we go down and take a look?”

“We can’t go down. Look at these sentries; they form a circular structure with no blind spots, and the lighting is very adequate,” Zhang Haiyan replied, thinking to himself how unfortunate it would be if these workers were passengers from ten years ago, held captive here as laborers for a decade. “Old rules apply; let’s grab someone and ask.”

The two of them looked around. On the deck of this steamship, there was only one ship tower with two large smokestacks. The main superstructure was located in the middle of the hull, with cargo holds arranged between the superstructure and the bow and stern decks. The bow was straight, tapering below the waterline, typical of North Atlantic ships.

The watchtower was at the top of the superstructure, surrounded by about seven or eight sentries near the two large smokestacks. There were ropes hanging down, tied to the ship’s side, with probably over a hundred lines. A lantern was hanging about three to four meters above. The deck was very clean, with no sign of anyone.

The windows of the cabins and the bow, as well as the superstructure, were dark, suggesting that there was no one inside. However, Zhang Haixia shook his head, saying, “There’s a smell of people living in the cabins. There must be someone inside.”

“Did you smell someone using the restroom again?” Zhang Haiyan looked at Zhang Haixia with pity. Zhang Haixia responded tersely, “I smelled alcohol.” After saying that, he pointed to one side, where someone from the bow had come out to check the extinguished lights, confirming his statement. But the bow was still quite far from them, and rushing over would easily get them discovered.

The person coming from the bow was dressed in military uniform. He looked at the broken glass on the ground and communicated with the sentries above in a dialect from Guangxi, looking quite puzzled. These people were also Chinese; Chinese people and Malaysians had always been more difficult to deal with. The closer they were to the Chinese mainland, the harder they were to handle. However, this time Zhang Haiyan managed to catch a few words, mentioning that they had encountered two capable individuals on the reef earlier, and now something unusual was happening, possibly because of those two.

After speaking, the sentry nodded, and they all raised their guns, aiming at the deck. Soldiers also appeared on the deck, all with their handguns cocked, beginning to check the area.

Zhang Haixia glanced at Zhang Haiyan, his face showing displeasure, clearly dissatisfied with how Zhang Haiyan had recklessly handled those lights earlier.

In the darkness, Zhang Haiyan listened to the approaching footsteps. The two of them were quite capable, but the tragedy of the times was that he knew he had absolutely no chance of fighting back against those automatic pistols.

As his thoughts raced, Zhang Haiyan quickly looked up and aimed a blade at the blue light emanating from the central rock crevice, launching it with precision. The cold gleam shattered a blue light wind lantern, sending sparks and glass scattering everywhere, causing immediate commotion below. The biggest characteristic of Zhang Haiyan was his ability to exploit human emotions; he was never thorough in his actions, but he thrived in the brief moments—those twenty or thirty seconds—where people would typically think one step further. That was his absolute domain.

The rocks below were more important than the ship itself. If the lantern on the rock was broken, it indicated that someone might have already dived onto the rocks, which would make everyone anxious, creating a twenty-second cognitive buffer.

Twenty seconds was enough.

All the guards and searchers looked toward the rocks. Zhang Haiyan grabbed Zhang Haixia’s hand and, close to the ground, executed a move that was extremely difficult for humans to perform, flinging Zhang Haixia out. Zhang Haixia landed and immediately propped himself up, sliding into the bow of the ship.

Then, Zhang Haiyan rolled out as well. Their movements were too conspicuous; a sentry upstairs almost turned to see them. Zhang Haiyan quickly spat out a blade, which slid along the deck and embedded itself into the sole of a man’s shoe. The man exclaimed, “Ouch!” The sentry’s head, which was about to turn, was momentarily distracted by the sound. In that instant, Zhang Haiyan slipped into the bow of the ship.

Zhang Haixia caught him. “They’ll discover us in a minute.”

“A minute isn’t enough?”

The bow of the ship was a duty room, with a staircase in the middle that led down to the lower hold. As the two descended, they were confronted by countless standing corpses, each covered in a thick layer of salt lumps—over a hundred in total, a truly horrifying sight. The corpses varied in shape, with men, women, and children among them. Their eyes had shriveled away due to dehydration, leaving hollow sockets staring at the ground, a chilling sight.

There were no lights in the cargo hold; all the windows had been covered from the inside, blocking any external light. The entire hold had only one light source: at the far end, there was a partition with a door that stood open, revealing a warm light inside that was very bright and inviting.

As they walked into the pile of corpses and moved forward, they spotted a person at the end of the cargo hold, dressed in a distinctly different military uniform with insignia. He was wearing a mask and gloves, injecting something into a corpse. Zhang Haixia covered Zhang Haiyan’s mouth and used lip-reading to say, “The smell is overwhelming; I don’t know what kind of liquid it is. What is he doing?”

Zhang Haiyan pushed Zhang Haixia’s hand away and replied with lip movements, “Just ask him directly.” Just as he was about to move forward, a phone rang. The officer answered it, pulling off his mask. He was very young and handsome. After listening for a moment, he spoke into the phone in an official tone: “Given the distance from here to the Panhua Sea Reef, swimming over is impossible. If someone could swim over, they must be from Zhang Qishan’s group. Get the submachine guns ready; if they are from Zhang Qishan, you won’t find them this way.” It seemed the call had come from the deck.

Zhang Qishan?

Zhang Haiyan was momentarily stunned but did not hesitate. The instant he made the call was the second moment in his life when he was caught off guard. He suddenly exerted force and rushed into the partition. Just as he was about to subdue the officer, almost simultaneously, the officer abruptly turned his head and drew his pistol, aiming it directly at his head. A deafening gunshot rang out, but Zhang Haiyan reacted swiftly, tilting his head to dodge the bullet.

The scorching bullet grazed his face, causing Zhang Haiyan to break out in a cold sweat. This cold sweat was not due to the bullet itself but rather from the officer’s decisive movements; he was clearly well-prepared and had been waiting for Zhang to attack. He had underestimated his opponent, and he realized he hadn’t done so in a long time—he didn’t even know how long it had been. In that moment, the mindset of underestimating his enemy filled him with immense fear.

This fear did not stem from the enemy but from the teachings of his adoptive mother. His adoptive mother would impose the most terrifying punishments for underestimating an opponent. For their faction, underestimating the enemy was an absolutely unforgivable mistake. Yet after ten years away, he had surprisingly forgotten this lesson.

Almost reflexively, as Zhang Haiyan dodged the bullet, the blade hidden in his mouth shot out, piercing the officer’s mouth and directly exiting through the back of his head. Blood erupted from the officer’s skull, and he collapsed to the ground.

Zhang Haiyan realized he had lost control of his strength and quickly moved to support the officer’s neck, kicking away his gun. He asked, “Who are you people?”

The officer’s mouth was filled with blood as he looked at Zhang Haiyan in pain, trying to pry his hand away. Zhang Haiyan said, “If I let go, you’ll die. Tell me, and I’ll help you stitch up your wound. Afterward, you might just need to go to the bathroom a few more times at night; it’s nothing serious.”

The officer’s eyes were glazed over, fixated on a cabinet to the side, which was filled with jars preserved in formalin and had several drawers. Zhang Haixia casually walked in, closed the door, and began rummaging through the drawers, all of which were filled with documents.

With blood pooling around him, the officer rolled his eyes back, seemingly on the verge of passing out, forcing Zhang Haiyan to release his grip. Zhang Haixia found a stack of items from the cabinet and flipped through them. “The soldiers upstairs will be coming down soon; you better prepare yourself. And look, I know what they’re looking for.” He tore off a page from a document and showed it to Zhang Haiyan, which read: “Research on the Plague Ship of the Ming Dynasty in the South China Sea.”

24984 Chapter 4 – The Ominous Smell

Swimming ability is the primary criterion for the Southern Archives to select trainees. People are naturally divided into those who are hydrophilic and those who are hydrophobic. Zhang Haiyan and Zhang Haixia find that their heartbeats slow down in the water, feeling more comfortable than on land. That’s why their names include the character for “sea,” to distinguish them. At the Maritime Office in Nanyang, those with “sea” in their names receive an extra bundle of cured meat with their lunch, and they can also have an extra steamed bun, which is quite enviable.

The two of them move in the water like fish, and every time they dive in and surface, they have already advanced several meters, showing no signs of effort in their movements. Only they know how they developed this swimming ability. On the rocky shores of Gulangyu in Xiamen, there is a pit about twenty to thirty meters wide and bottomless. When the tide comes in, the pit is swallowed by the sea level, and when the tide goes out, it becomes a deep pool. The deep pool is not connected to the sea; fish and shrimp come and go with the ebb and flow of the tides.

Zhang Haiyan remembers that the pool was filled with crabs, so many that they couldn’t catch them all. Their foster mother would catch a snapper from the sea and toss it into the deep pool at low tide, letting them catch it barehanded. If they managed to catch it by evening, they could sleep in the same bed as their foster mother.

A snapper is certainly not something that can be caught by hand. Eight months later, the children’s shoulders and abdominal muscles were as if carved out by a knife, but of course, they had never caught a snapper. That snapper always died of fright.

Zhang Haiyan still clearly remembers the azure sea and blue sky, a group of little ghosts slowly growing into adults, standing by that deep pool, no longer sighing and lamenting about not catching the snapper. Those years were so beautiful that they evoke nostalgia, allowing him to swim forward in the waves of the sea like a fish.

Soon, they could no longer see the coral reefs, surrounded entirely by the sea. The waves grew larger, and Zhang Haixia surfaced. After each adjustment of direction, he continued forward without hesitation. They had swum for about four or five kilometers when they finally saw lights on the sea.

The lights were bluish-green, the kind used by pirates during attacks. They were made from rotten egg whites mixed with oil, and from a distance, they resembled the moonlight reflecting on the sea, making them hard to detect.

The two of them slowly approached and discovered that it was a large iron passenger ship, and there was more than one. With their eyesight, they could see four or five large ships and a dozen smaller ones, all locked together with iron chains, forming a fleet.

The ships were already quite old, covered in barnacles and rust, clearly neglected. They could vaguely see the closest ship to them, named “Rushan.” Zhang Haiyan remembered that it was one of the passenger ships that went missing ten years ago, with over two hundred passengers disappearing along with it.

Around the fleet, there were a dozen anchor cables thrown into the sea. The waves here were not big, and Zhang Haiyan knew this indicated shallow waters below, with rocks beneath them.

The two of them climbed up the cable, hanging upside down on an anchor cable, and could already hear voices on the ship. They crawled to the ship’s side, stepping on the anchor cable to peek inside, and saw four or five guards at the top of the passenger cabin, armed with rifles and surprisingly dressed in military uniforms.

Murmurs could be heard from various parts of the ship, and they focused their attention to listen.

“What’s the Guixi accent?” Zhang Haixia asked. There are many warlord factions in Guixi, each swallowing the other, making it hard to figure out who’s who. They’ve heard of warlords manipulating fishing boats to go out to sea from the Gulf of Tonkin to become pirates and seize military funds. But this place is too far from the Gulf of Tonkin. What are the Guixi warlords doing in Malacca?

The two of them listened intently for a while longer. They couldn’t understand much of the Guangxi dialect, but they were certain that these soldiers definitely belonged to a warlord faction.

Zhang Haiyan looked at the soldiers’ rifles, all of which were German-made Mauser rifles, not Hanyang-made. This was already a significant investment among warlords, indicating that these soldiers held a high rank. Upon closer inspection, he could also see that the soldiers were carrying a type of German-made handgun. During his mission, Zhang Haiyan had handled the import of this kind of handgun, having shipped twelve of them from Malacca to Xiamen for the officials of the Nanyang Maritime Bureau. He knew the power of these handguns.

“Could the Gui faction warlords be in Malacca as pirates? Could they be remnants of defeated warlords trying to make a living, hijacking ships at sea to make a comeback?” Zhang Haixia asked.

Zhang Haiyan carefully observed the formation of the ships and thought to himself that these ships had been hijacked ten years ago, and they were still here. Hijacking ships back then had already been a bizarre case, and now connecting those hijacked ships into a formation and operating them for ten years was even more extraordinary. To hide a case on an international shipping route for ten years and still be active at the scene—such a grand operation must have a mastermind behind it who was undoubtedly a schemer!

How could someone with such capabilities be a defeated army’s remnant? Looking again at the ship formation, the iron chains were linked very reasonably, and the sentry posts were clearly and tightly distributed. After ten years, the sentry on top of the Ru Sheng had not shown the slightest sign of slack; the commanders here were certainly not ordinary people.

Zhang Haiyan said to Zhang Haixia, “Look at this ship formation; the center is empty, forming a hollow square, as if something is enclosed in the middle.”

The two boarded the ship, with Zhang Haiyan shrinking into the shadows. He looked up at the sentry above; the sentry post was well-designed, and the deck was illuminated clearly by sixteen well-placed lights, making it impossible to pass through.

Zhang Haiyan focused and took a deep breath, then suddenly exhaled three beams of cold light, extinguishing three of the blue lamps. The guards were distracted by the suddenly extinguished lights, and in that instant, the two of them dashed forward, rolling across the deck until they reached the side of the passenger ship and shrank back into a shadow.

Behind them was the ship’s railing, which enclosed the area covered by the entire ship formation. They could see that the lights outside the railing were even denser, confirming that there was indeed something there.

The two of them stealthily peeked out and discovered that in the center of the ship formation, there was a rock surrounded by mining equipment and scaffolding. There was a huge hole in the rock, which seemed to have been artificially dug and was already quite deep.

The soldiers had surrounded a rock in this sea area with so many ships and had dug a hole in the rock.

They could see many people who were not in military uniforms working on the rock, all of whom were shackled. Zhang Haixia covered his nose.

Zhang Haiyan asked, “What do you smell?”

Zhang Haixia replied, “There’s an indescribable smell coming from that hole; it smells very ominous.”

24983 Chapter 3 – Heading to the Sea

Zhang Haiyan having blades in his mouth is something many people know, but where he usually hides the blades and how he can shoot them out powerfully enough to pierce through three layers of iron is something no one knows. According to Zhang Haiyan later, the training of the tongue and the muscles in the mouth is crucial, especially the trick of creating a vacuum in the mouth.

He particularly enjoys using this method to harm others because when he looks at someone, his mouth is almost simultaneously aimed at that person. Anyone who plays with blow darts or archery knows that aiming with the mouth is very accurate; during archery, the fletching of the arrow must be close to the mouth, and the movement of the mouth when turning to look at someone is something others find very difficult to detect. So, when Zhang Haiyan committed his earlier acts of violence, people would fall as he looked at them; this time was no different, as he shot out cold light while glancing in that direction.

His habit is such that he does not wait for the prey to be hit; regardless of whether the prey successfully dodges, he will have already pressed in close. Zhang Haiyan’s movements were already considered fast, but when he arrived, Haixia had already gotten there without him noticing how he had kept up.

However, he found that there was nothing in this area. Zhang Haiyan discovered two blades embedded in the rocks, pulled them out, and put them back in his mouth, wondering where the third one was. Haixia twitched his nose, squatted down, struck a match, and saw bloodstains on the rocks.

“Got him,” Zhang Haiyan exclaimed excitedly.

“Turns out it was a person,” Haixia said, feeling very disappointed and letting out a long sigh.

The training they received was rigorous and profound; most of the content felt unsuitable for dealing with people. But upon arriving in the South Seas, they hadn’t even seen a zongzi, let alone any monsters or demons. Every time they went out on duty, both hoped to encounter something significant—Zhang Haiyan out of boredom, and Haixia hoping to achieve merit and be reassigned. However, for many years, their returned reports were all closed as “rumors.”

At this moment, it was unclear whether their swift actions had thrown the other party into disarray, but they began to hear all sorts of sounds emerging from the thick fog.

The two stood up and saw shadows of people in the fog, one by one disappearing at an astonishing speed, truly like phantoms. In just three or four seconds, all the shadows retreated into the depths of the mist and vanished.

“What’s going on?” Zhang Haiyan squinted his eyes and felt a sea breeze blowing in, causing the fog to begin dissipating.

They hurried to chase after it, only to find that all the bodies had mysteriously vanished from the fog. The sea breeze grew stronger as they searched, and they could visibly see the fog shifting. A few minutes later, the fog was completely blown away, and the rocks appeared as though nothing had ever happened, completely clean.

A bright moon hung in the sky, the sea breeze began to rise, and the waves started crashing against the rocks again. The moonlight shimmered like scales on the distant sea surface. They saw no boats and no people. Zhang Haiyan looked in the direction their own boat had left, and there was nothing there. The boat was indeed gone! If it weren’t for the bloodstains, it seemed as if everything that had just happened had never occurred.

“This ghostly act is quite sincere,” Zhang Haiyan murmured.

Haixia returned to the bloodstains and squatted down.

“This is magic.”

“Where have the people gone? Can this blood help you find them?” If it were magic, these bodies should still be on the reef, just hidden away. But they had searched so carefully just now and found nothing like a secret door.

“Blood isn’t a very good scent marker. Its range isn’t far enough,” Zhang Haixia said as he turned his head and sniffed the air. The sea breeze was strong here, quickly dispersing many scents, but suddenly he looked towards a spot where Zhang Haiyan had discarded a cigarette butt. The two of them went over and found that the cigarette butt had been stepped on.

“Someone stepped on this cigarette butt,” Zhang Haiyan picked it up. “I put agarwood in this butt; the smell is strong. Anyone passing by will pick up the scent, and it has good penetration. You should definitely be able to smell it.” He held it under Zhang Haixia’s nose. “Come on, have a sniff.”

Zhang Haixia took the cigarette butt with annoyance, sniffed it, then tossed it aside, closing his eyes to smell the air. After a while, he opened them again and said, “No way, your breath stinks too much from smoke and alcohol.”

Zhang Haiyan couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time. “Hanging out with you means I have to wipe three times after using the restroom; if I miss one, you’ll know. Farting is a capital offense. Life is too hard. You might as well find a place to smash your nose so we don’t have to torture each other.” With that, he stepped back.

Zhang Haixia ignored him, closed his eyes, felt for a moment, then looked towards the sea.

That was the edge of the reef, and ahead was the black sea, rolling like obsidian under the moonlight. Zhang Haixia pointed forward. “Out in the sea.”

The waves were very high, and there was no sign of any boats in sight.

“Are you saying that these people quickly transported the bodies out to sea? Then moved away from the reef? What kind of boat could go that fast?”

“Maybe it’s not a boat; maybe it’s something else. If you want to know, just go take a look.” Zhang Haixia gazed into the darkness far out at sea. “There must be something out there.”

A big wave crashed against the reef. For an ordinary person, jumping into the sea at this moment would be equivalent to suicide. But the two of them exchanged glances, took off their military uniforms, and jumped into the sea together, swimming forward.

24982 Chapter 2 – Fog Hidden Pickled Person

In situations where visibility is poor, people instinctively feel fear towards humanoid figures. Moreover, Zhang Haiyan could clearly distinguish that the postures of these shadows were unlike those of living people. All the shadows were drooping their heads, yet their bodies stood straight. Anyone would know that maintaining such a posture would be quite exhausting for a living person, and these shadows remained almost motionless, resembling zombies.

“Xia, are you there?” Zhang Haiyan shouted into the thick fog. The moment the fog surged in, he felt a faint worry in his heart. If it really were some malevolent spirits at play, even Zhang Hai, the most formidable weapon in the South Seas, would likely be powerless.

“Yes.” The response from the fog was calm. Zhang Haiyan sighed in relief and asked, “What do you think?”

“It smells like rotting corpses,” Zhang Hai replied from the fog. “It seems they are definitely not living people.”

“Should we regroup or something?”

“Are you scared?”

“No, can you stop being contrary?” Zhang Haiyan glanced around; the figures were not approaching him, but the sky was growing darker, and the dense shadows were chilling. He raised the lantern, the light cutting through the mist. Without hesitation, he walked straight toward the nearest figure.

As he got closer, the figure gradually became clearer; it was indeed a standing person, but the way they stood was very strange. Zhang Haiyan had seen many processed corpses in the South Seas, and depending on the degree of muscle rigidity during processing, bizarre postures could emerge, such as wrists turned outward, heads dangling sideways on the chest, or excessive twisting of the upper and lower body. This corpse was in such a condition. Its mouth was wide open, seemingly dislocated.

The entire body was covered in a white crust of salt.

“It’s been cured,” Zhang Haiyan shouted, “This is a pile of ham.” He thought to himself: Damn, could it be that for the past decade, someone has been pickling people on the reef?

Suddenly, he froze for a moment, feeling that something was off about the corpse. He brought the lantern closer and immediately realized that the body standing before him was actually Chen Libiao.

After just half a second, he thought, Oh no! The ship!

Chen Libiao had just been on the ship, which had already left the reef for some distance. Now he suddenly appeared on the reef, pickled, indicating that something must have happened to their ship.

“Xia, our ship is in trouble.”

Losing the ship on a deserted island meant something serious for both of them.

“It’s fine; only people would do something like this to cut off our escape route. Since it’s not ghosts but humans, there must be another boat nearby,” Zhang Hai said calmly from the fog. He leisurely stepped out from the thick mist, passing through those ghostly figures, and returned to Zhang Haiyan’s side without even lighting the lantern.

“I am a bit worried about the captain; he has dependents.”

“And looking at this situation, they want to scare us, to make us spread rumors about ghosts. So they must have a way to let us go back,” Zhang Hai said.

“Come out!” Zhang Haiyan shouted into the surrounding fog.

There was no echo.

Zhang Hai stared at the fog; it was getting thicker, and the shadows of the corpses became more erratic, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

Zhang Haiyan continued, “I am Zhang Haiyan, the Maritime Supervisor of Nanyang. You are here playing tricks, and I will investigate all of you. If you surrender within three minutes, we’ll only deal with the main offenders. Once three minutes pass, everyone will face immediate execution.”

After saying this, Zhang Haiyan glanced at his watch and began to unbutton his collar. Zhang Haixia also stretched his neck a bit. Just three seconds after the watch ticked, Zhang Haiyan put down the lantern and started to move forward. Zhang Haixia said, “But three minutes haven’t passed yet?”

Zhang Haiyan adjusted his military cap, looking puzzled. “You believe my words? Hurry up, take advantage of their hesitation and go scare them.”

The two quickly entered the thick fog, crouching and moving stealthily. Soon, they spotted the corpse of the ship’s captain. Zhang Haiyan sighed and did not approach. All the bodies had been preserved, some highly dehydrated.

Zhang Haiyan used lip-reading to communicate with Haixia, saying, “These look like the passengers who went missing here ten years ago; they have now turned into jerky.” Before he could finish, both suddenly sensed something was off and turned around, discovering that something was indeed moving. Without thinking, Zhang Haiyan flicked his tongue and shot out three beams of cold light into the fog. At the same time, he crouched down and charged forward.

24981 Chapter 1 – The Origin of the Nanyang Archives

The Panhua Reef case caused a sensation in 1906; at that time, everyone in the South Seas was aware of it. Throughout the year 1906, there were a total of 27 incidents of ships disappearing along the route from Xiamen to Malacca, among which 12 were passenger ships with over a hundred people on board. All the missing vessels had passed near Panhua Reef. There were no signs before their disappearance; the weather at sea was fine, and there was no wreckage, no bodies, and no cargo. Moreover, there were no pirate ransom demands afterward; everything was silent, as if these ships had never existed at all. People said that there were sea monsters lurking in the sands near Panhua Reef, swallowing ships and people, causing the waters to become murky, so fleets avoided the area.

In November of that year, fog covered the sea, and most ships on the Malacca route had already rerouted to Pulau. Only a few cargo ships still passed through Panhua Reef, carrying offerings for the Dragon Mother. During this time, several crew members witnessed strange phenomena. In the thick fog, some saw countless shadows standing on Panhua Reef, all with their heads bowed, numbering in the thousands, resembling water ghosts longing for home, sending chills down people’s spines.

To uncover the truth, the South Seas Maritime Bureau established the South Seas Archives, dedicated to investigating strange occurrences in the region, compiling them into volumes known as the South Seas Scrolls. They recruited sailors and merchants from various places to gather intelligence. The first major case opened was the Panhua Reef case.

Zhang Haiyan, originally named Zhang Hailou, was one of the first agents to enter the South Seas Archives. He was trained at sixteen, expecting to work in maritime inspection and serve foreigners in the concessions. However, at the last moment, he was assigned to Perak as an external agent. In Perak, the pronunciation of the character “楼” (lou) became “盐” (yan), making his name sound unappealing. His nickname changed from “Lou Gui” (possibly due to his preference for nocturnal activities) to “A Bin.” He was tall and imposing; in Xiamen, he would have been seen as a figure of distinction, but here he was regarded as oddly dressed, like a madman in the marketplace.

Alongside him in Malacca was Zhang Haixia, who was stationed there at the same time. To ensure that Zhang Haixia’s name matched his own, he gave Zhang Haixia the nickname “Zhang Haixia” (which sounds similar). The two were of similar age and acted together, their names evoking a strong sense of camaraderie.

When the two arrived at Panhua Reef, it was already 1916, and the sea wind was very strong. Zhang Haiyan adjusted his military cap and lit a cigarette as he jumped onto the reef. The powerful sea wind blew the smoke he exhaled into a thin line, tracing across the corner of his mouth. Zhang Haixia followed behind, dragging a fisherman and throwing him onto the rocks.

After spending two weeks at sea, Zhang Haixia’s skin showed no signs of wear; instead, he appeared even younger and more handsome, causing Zhang Haiyan to feel a twinge of envy. At that moment, his companion was looking at the cigarette in his mouth with evident annoyance, clearly disapproving of the habit of smoking while investigating a case.

“Don’t worry, it’s been ten years since that incident. What kind of clue could remain here for ten years that a single cigarette could ruin?”

“Your cigarette,” Zhang Haixia continued to stare at the smoke in his mouth, “I recommended some tobacco to you before; those wouldn’t annoy me so much. This smell is distracting.”

Zhang Haiyan sighed and had no choice but to toss the cigarette onto the rocks.

The fishermen were clearly bound and trembling as they looked at the reef. This man, Chen Libiao, was one of the crew members who witnessed the water ghosts longing for their hometown on this reef ten years ago. He was brought back to the reef because, at that time, Chen Libiao was drunk and, together with another fellow fisherman, dared to approach the reef to see what was happening when they saw hundreds of ghosts. Chen Libiao, having drunk less, sobered up as he got closer, while his companion climbed onto the reef. After the thick fog lifted, both the ghosts and his companion disappeared, and that fellow fisherman was never seen again.

According to him, when approaching the reef, one could see those water ghosts standing by the water, their bodies covered in salt crust, their faces a deathly blue. These water ghosts were already dead and wrapped in salt flowers. However, once the fog cleared, these ghostly figures completely vanished.

After returning to his country, Chen Libiao reported to the Nanyang Archives. He was the only person who had been to the Panhua Sea Reef at the time of the incident. Ten years later, Zhang Haiyan and his team could only find him as a lead.

Zhang Haiyan looked at Chen Libiao and asked, “Where are the ghosts?”

“It’s been ten years; they might have gotten tired of standing and left,” Chen Libiao replied.

“Stop talking nonsense. I suspected back then that you killed your companion at sea and tossed him overboard, then lied that he was taken by ghosts. Your current demeanor is increasingly resembling that of a murderer. How about we just shoot you here, and I’ll go back and close the case?”

Chen Libiao looked at Zhang Haiyan, fear creeping into his heart, and immediately shook his head.

“If you don’t want to die, then summon the ghosts!” Zhang Haiyan scolded.

Although it was nearing dusk, visibility on the reef was still very high. Not only were there no water ghosts, but it could be said that there was nothing at all.

Chen Libiao trembled all over, clearly terrified of this reef. He looked around repeatedly and said softly, “The last time I came, I saw them in the thick fog; when the fog lifted, there was nothing left.”

“Fog? When does the fog roll in?” Zhang Haiyan asked.

“Before sunset, the wind stops, then thick fog rolls in. Around midnight, the wind picks up again, and the fog is blown away. We saw the water ghosts at that time.”

Zhang Haiyan took out his watch and checked the time. There was about half an hour until sunset. This watch was standard issue from the Nanyang Archives, given to maritime personnel. It featured a pattern of a hermit crab, and in this era, it was worth a fortune. However, his was blue, while Zhang Haixia’s was white.

Zhang Haiyan glanced at Zhang Haixia, who was carefully inspecting the crevices of the reef and didn’t pay attention to them.

Chen Libiao looked at Zhang Haiyan, drenched in cold sweat and visibly anxious. He glanced at the setting sun and then at the surrounding sea, clearly very frightened.

After looking back and forth for more than ten times, Zhang Haiyan grew impatient. He waved his hand, and Chen Libiao fled back to the maritime barge that had brought them, exclaiming, “Thank you, officer, for sparing my life!”

As Chen Libiao jumped onto the boat, the captain was still scolding him. Then the captain shouted to Zhang Haiyan, “Officer, how long do you plan to stay on the reef?”

“What’s wrong? Are you scared too, captain?” Zhang Haiyan asked.

“Officer, we’re more afraid of you. If you could be kind enough to let our boat move out three hundred steps, when you’re ready to return, just call us back. If you refuse, we’ll stay here, but we absolutely won’t go onto that reef.”

Zhang Haiyan chuckled. Since the establishment of the Nanyang Archives, he had encountered countless unbelievable events, such as black magic and spirits; there were at least eight hundred of them, if not a thousand. Most were merely human tricks, and all kinds of strange emotions and mysteries could be attributed to human nature. He did not believe that the events occurring on the coral reef could escape this pattern.

“You throw the wine up here, and after that, it’s up to you. But if I light up and you can’t make it within half a stick of incense, then you can forget about Malacca,” Zhang Haiyan said. Before he finished speaking, the captain of the boat had already thrown the wine and food bags onto the rocks. By the time Zhang Haiyan went over to pick them up, they had quickly left the reef.

Without a boat, he suddenly found himself cut off from the land, trapped on an island surrounded by the sea. The vast ocean stretched out before him, and being on this isolated island made him feel utterly insignificant against nature, regardless of any skills he possessed.

As the waves crashed in, Zhang Haiyan suddenly felt unsteady. He quickly shifted his gaze and realized that his feet were still steady; it was just the movement of the waves that gave him the illusion that the rocks were spinning.

He opened the wine and took a sip when he heard Zhang Haixia’s voice calling from a distance, “Can you move to the downwind side?”

Zhang Haiyan cursed inwardly and moved to sit behind a rock, waiting for the fog to come in. He had been working with Zhang Haixia for a long time and knew his temperament well. Zhang Haixia had a very sensitive nose, while Zhang Haiyan indulged in both smoke and alcohol, which was a torment for Zhang Haixia. Often, Zhang Haixia wished he could wash him clean of the hundred different smells on him. Usually, if he just sat in the downwind position, the two of them could coexist peacefully.

Sure enough, Zhang Haixia stopped bothering him. He watched as the sun slowly sank below the horizon, the thick clouds gathering near the sea level gradually obscuring the sun’s rays, transforming it into a red orb. After disappearing behind the clouds, it created a fiery sunset. The sea breeze also gradually calmed down.

He still missed the little things about Xiamen. It had been many years since he had returned. He recalled the time before he left the mainland for Malacca, when his master, the woman he called “Gan Niang,” had asked him if he could live alone in Malacca for thirty years. He had carelessly replied in the affirmative. Looking back now, he realized how naive he had been. Thirty years; he was too young at the time to understand what thirty years meant for a person.

Drifting alone in a foreign land, even after receiving sufficient training and managing to get along reasonably well with the locals, he could never fully settle down. There was always a strange sentiment, a feeling that he did not belong here. If it weren’t for Zhang Haixia accompanying him, he probably would have fled back long ago.

He had almost forgotten what Gan Niang had said back then; he only remembered that Zhang Haixia had insisted he should not agree. At that time, all he knew was that Gan Niang had treated him with great kindness, and whatever she asked him to do, he would do. After he nodded, she handed him a piece of paper, and he drew a circle on it. After that, she seemed relieved, patted his head, and went off to listen to the opera.

The next day, he was sent aboard a ship to the South Seas, enduring a bumpy journey to Perak. After boarding, he discovered that Zhang Haixia was also on the ship. Upon inquiring, he learned that Zhang Haixia had known he had made a pact and was so anxious that he lost a handful of hair. Zhang Haixia had a peculiar personality and lacked friends; Zhang Haiyan was his only companion. After being separated from his good friend for thirty years, he couldn’t accept it, and ultimately, he had no choice but to make a pact and follow along. At the time, he felt quite happy, thinking that Zhang Haixia was loyal. Now, he understood that this was no longer about loyalty; it was akin to accompanying someone to hell.

On the ship to Malacca, Zhang Haixia was sulking and had not spoken to Zhang Haiyan at all. This conflict had persisted until now, and back then, they were too young to care. As they grew older, they began to comprehend what thirty years meant, and only then did they understand why Zhang Haixia had refused to let him agree to the pact.

That damned piece of white paper was a contract of servitude! If violated, he would end up in prison upon returning to Xiamen.

As he was lost in thought, the sea in front of him gradually became blurry. Zhang Haiyan took a deep breath; the air was thick and salty, indicating that fog was rising. He stood up, took a sip of liquor, adjusted his military cap, and noticed that it was getting late. The sun on the horizon was just a thin line. He lit the wind lantern, and when he turned around, he saw a large fog bank drifting over from the sea, instantly enveloping the coral reef.

Zhang Haixia was suddenly shrouded in thick fog, making him hard to see. Zhang Haiyan walked towards him, raising the lantern high and saying, “Don’t search anymore; the fog has rolled in, and we need to stay together.” Just as he was speaking, he suddenly noticed that in the fog ahead, there was originally only one shadow of Zhang Haixia, but now dozens of shadows had appeared, all standing with their heads down, resembling ghosts.

Zhang Haiyan squinted, momentarily stunned, as the shadows in the fog multiplied, quickly surrounding him. In the thick fog, he couldn’t see clearly, only the dense figures encircling him.

1919 Chapter 8 – Li Cu’s Confusion

“Let’s call him Wu Xie,” said the old dog Wu, choosing a homophone, hoping he would be ‘wu xie’ (innocent), pure and clean. Looking at his grandson in the swaddling blanket, tears streamed down his face, and his murky eyes seemed to foresee the child’s future fate. Wu Xie always thought that the ‘wu xie’ here was his grandfather’s hope for him to break free from his destiny. When he truly understood the meaning of ‘wu xie’, a chill penetrated to his bones. He cried out in despair before his grandfather’s tombstone, feeling a sense of helplessness and desolation he had never experienced before.

Silence, endless silence, so quiet that all the sounds that shouldn’t be heard became incredibly clear. Do these people not speak? Li Cu closed his eyes, silently assessing his surroundings. After a brief communication with him, these people extinguished their lighting devices and fell silent around him, blending into the dimness. He could hear no breathing, no heartbeat, not a hint of restlessness.

These people were as controllable as machines. If he didn’t know for certain that they wouldn’t leave, Li Cu wouldn’t even know if they were still around him. All his wounds had been treated; the corroded skin was disinfected and bandaged, and the heavily injured leg had been cut open in several places to drain blood and reduce swelling, with joints secured. The medicine applied seemed to have special effects; the pain was suppressed and not so pronounced, and there was a tingling warmth in all his wounds.

When everything reaches its worst, things will start to get better. Any hint of recovery is extreme happiness. He began to set a principle for himself: if he didn’t know the consequences of an action, he would absolutely not carry it out. The hallmark of youthful recklessness is the belief that one can bear all consequences, but in reality? Another characteristic of youthful recklessness is the quick realization that one can bear nothing at all.

He let go of his inner anxiety, calming himself like these people, being alone was one of his few strengths. In the dim light, he became increasingly calm. Except for Wang Meng, he wouldn’t lose to anyone in daydreaming.

When the light turned on again, Li Cu felt a moment of disorientation, suddenly pulled back from his daze, feeling a slight discomfort from the inertia. Gradually, every corner hiding a person lit up. The long shadows of these people combined with the surrounding twisted vines and the strange phosphorescence and lights made everything seem very dreamlike; these people appeared like elves suddenly emerging from a Nordic forest.

Their low conversations indicated that someone had returned with news. They spoke in an incomprehensible language, and Li Cu couldn’t understand what they were saying. After their conversation, the leader came to Li Cu’s side and asked him, “Do you know what Wu Xie really wants to do? Has he revealed any information?”

Li Cu shook his head, and the person showed a look of confusion. He pondered for a moment and divided everyone into three groups using that language, sending them off in different directions. Then Li Cu was also picked up and began to move quickly, clinging to the vines.

The men in black moved very swiftly, without a word, navigating through various channels as they sped through the architectural complex.

The person carrying him was very strong, and his speed was not affected at all by the weight he was carrying. It was hard to tell how much time had passed, but the walls around them changed from concrete to rock. The cave was square-shaped, clearly man-made.

As they continued deeper into the cave, Li Zu discovered that it was an excavation site, with various supporting scaffolds and small rail carts filled with hewn stones.

As they moved further in, the paths became chaotic and disordered, with the shapes of the excavations becoming very irregular.

Clearly, this group was unfamiliar with the area; they often found themselves at dead ends, but they never hesitated. Upon realizing a path was blocked, they would immediately mark it and backtrack. However, after walking for a long time, they suddenly came across a cavern.

The cavern was also excavated, with the digging directed downward. The bottom of the cavern was already more than ten meters lower than the passageway, resembling a bomb crater.

Inside the cavern, there were steel-framed scaffolds, with many steel locks suspending numerous baskets. The scaffolds crisscrossed between the cavern walls.

The bottom of the cavern was unevenly dug, with countless small openings that could only accommodate one person, densely distributed at the bottom of the cavern, where numerous ropes could be seen hanging into these holes.

They descended to the bottom of the cavern and reached the edges of those small openings, realizing that these were vertical shafts leading down.

One man in black said, “If this is a mine, then this is the vein they found. So they’re concentrating on mining here.”

Two of them tugged on a rope to test its strength. After discovering it was not secure, they directly used their feet to grip the edges of the shaft and slid down.

The others began reinforcing some parts of the scaffolding on the cave’s structure, checking its sturdiness. Some were looking for the best lookout positions, while others started to rest.

Li Zu didn’t know their purpose; he just numbly watched, but he realized that he was temporarily safe. These people seemed intent on taking him somewhere, and they didn’t know the route.

Over the next six hours, he watched them explore all the shafts below at a rapid pace. Wu Xie had given him a piece of advice in his dreams: in uncertain situations, try to ask fewer questions and minimize any communication with the others. All information exchange should be analyzed from the questions posed by the other party, first understanding what they knew and what they assumed he knew, and then responding cautiously.

However, as Li Zu saw time pass and they continued to jump around in the shafts, he began to feel restless. Unable to hold back, he asked, “What exactly are you doing?”

The man in black, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them upon hearing the question and looked at Li Zu with a hint of confusion.

“You don’t know what we’re doing?” The man sat up suddenly.

Li Zu was taken aback, suddenly feeling something was off. Just as he was about to change his wording, the man in black approached him: “How could you not know what we’re doing?”

Li Zu felt a surge of anxiety and couldn’t control his facial expression. Seeing Li Zu’s fearful demeanor only deepened the man’s confusion. Li Zu stammered, “I mean, your efficiency is too low. What exactly are you doing? Even a fool would have figured it out by now.”

The other party looked at Li Cu with a disgusted expression and said, “Then tell me, what are we doing? Prove that you know what we are doing.” Li Cu was at a loss for words; he opened his mouth in shock, thinking, “Wow, problems arise so quickly.” The other person called over several others nearby, and they all gathered around, discussing in a language he couldn’t understand. Then, the leader drew a dagger with a swift motion. He coldly stared at Li Cu and said, “You have a bit of a problem, kid. Although I don’t know what the problem is, are you not telling us the truth?”

1918 Chapter 7 – Waiting

The scene shifts back to when they were trapped in the water filtration room by snakes and the Hydra cypress. After Li Cu and Su Wan were dragged away, Hei Xiao decisively took action, and the situation was extremely chaotic. At that moment, he told Yang Hao and Liang Wan that the only way to have a glimmer of hope was to jump into the water pool. He then shared with Yang Hao the method of finding an exit, informing him that a large rescue team was already above, and he had to go up immediately to report.

In this complex underground pipeline, the main route to all exits was quite clear, specifically through the temperature control valves located at the top of the pipes. The temperature in the pipes connected to the ventilation openings was significantly higher than in other pipes. The function of these control valves was to monitor the temperature of each section of the pipeline. When warm air filled the pipes and the temperature rose to a specific degree, the thermometer at the top would tip over and close the switch. Once a certain number of switches were closed, indicating that the temperature was too high, the ventilation openings would be notified and shut down.

This instrument was very simple yet highly practical. However, due to long-term neglect, most of the temperature control valves had broken down. When something crawled over the controllers, it would tip the thermometer, producing a sound similar to wooden clogs walking. Because the main system was used very frequently, after a power outage, the broken control valves connected to the ventilation openings were all in a closed state. Therefore, as long as they found a closed control valve, they could locate the exit.

This task was simple but quite time-consuming, and Yang Hao’s presence could give them a head start. Of course, it wasn’t just about this advantage; Wu Xie was clearly thinking about these issues and never wasted any of his pieces. Many arrangements waited for Hei Xiao to receive cues from Wu Xie before he truly understood, which was also a reason for his inexplicable confidence in this person. He didn’t believe that Wu Xie had overlooked anything in this matter.

For instance, starting with Yang Hao’s water-absorbing jacket, the time it took for the jacket to drip after absorbing water had to perfectly match the length of the pipes here. Wu Xie had perfectly thought of this, and for that, he needed to deliver a specific piece of clothing to Yang Hao without any flaws in advance. Wu Sanxing’s extensive investments outside the industry included several clothing brands, and the advertisements and discount coupons for this brand distributed in the newspapers near Yang Hao’s home, as well as the type of magazines his girlfriend liked to read, were all part of the plan. The search for models and new designs that matched Yang Hao’s appearance, along with the jacket he tore while playing soccer and his birthday date—all of these factors were interconnected, and this was only one of the considerations needed for this plan, representing one possibility in the deduction process.

Who could have known that the material of a piece of clothing could save them at least three hours of escape time? Unfortunately, uncontrollable circumstances arose—Li Cu’s C4 explosion. Otherwise, he would have faced his fate with great composure and energy, and he would have been in the best condition to confront the ensuing chaos.

Amidst the glowing ammonia and the assessment of the bloodstains, they stumbled upon a well opening. Not every well opening led to an exit, but this one had only bloodstains leading up, with none coming down.

Su Wan looked at the faint beams of light filtering down from above, resembling sunlight, and suddenly began to cry. He wiped his eyes and said, “I’m sure I can do very well in the college entrance examination. Because I crawled out of the grave to study. Even the heavens will be moved by me.”

Heixiazi glanced at the sky above. Every time at such moments, his dislike for sunlight would lessen. Su Wan wanted to climb the valley, but Heixiazi held him back: “It’s not time yet.”

“Aren’t we supposed to seize every moment?”

“Don’t I have no standing?” Heixiazi replied, “How many hours are left until the three days that Wu Xie mentioned?”

“Ten hours left means a full 72 hours.”

“Ten hours left, and those ten hours might be the hardest we’ve ever endured in our lives.”

“Harder than the previous two and a half days?” Su Wan’s face turned pale.

“During those two and a half days, most of my work was just standing there looking cool,” Heixiazi said. “In the next ten hours, both of us will have to roll and crawl for our lives.” As he spoke, both of them noticed that the shadow cast by the light above shifted slightly.

This was the shadow created by sunlight filtering through tiny gaps above. The change in the shadow could only mean one thing: someone was moving above, blocking the light.

Heixiazi made a quiet gesture for Su Wan to listen carefully, and Su Wan then heard voices coming from above.

And it wasn’t just one person; from the sounds, there was a lot of commotion above, making it impossible to discern the situation, but it seemed to be quite lively.

“The objectives from Beijing have also been achieved,” Heixiazi whispered. “I hope they are all still alive. Let’s go; we can’t get out for now, we need to find a place to hide.”

“Who are these people?” Su Wan said, a bit frantic. “I don’t care; I want to go out and surrender. I can’t stand being stuck down here any longer.”

“These people came for money. They think there are huge fortunes hidden here,” Heixiazi said. “From the sounds, it must be a dense crowd outside, completely sealed off.”

The family that Wu Xie spoke of, who believed they had the most important person of the century, was now surrounded by these completely deranged individuals inside an ancient tomb. This was likely a scene that the family could never have imagined in several generations.

Even though these people were referred to as “shepherds” by Wu Xie, their rationality and logic had already been stripped away by the prospect of immense wealth, much like a starving person snatching food from a lion. These people would not be swayed by any so-called fate. Nothing could calm them down enough to think rationally.

“Is the three-day period meant to give these people time to surround this place?” Su Wan asked in surprise.

“Right now, I can only see through the surface objectives,” Heixiazi replied, but he also began to anticipate what would happen next. He couldn’t see through the developments to come, but he knew Wu Xie must have already considered all the possibilities of what might happen next.

The interactions between Xie Yuchen and Liang Wan were so secretive and clever; if these people outside discovered this process, Liang Wan would become very suspicious.

Liang Wan, moving deeper into the ancient tomb, would be the focal point of their pursuit, and the floor plan of the dark room in Chang’an Town that Liang Wan did not take, along with everything Liang Wan would do afterward, should have already been exposed.

Wu Xie has destroyed the information gap among these people. Now the mad dogs outside have the floor plan of this place, have Yang Hao who knows the situation inside, and possess the desire to track down Liang Wan—this equates to having the desire to enter the most core part of the ancient tomb. This is the surface of what he sees.

The most obvious and central point is that Wu Xie has not given anyone a chance to catch their breath—neither his opponents nor his own people, not even himself.

1917 Chapter 6 – The Cockroaches Escaping

Heixiao was sweating profusely, staring as Su Wan trembled and extracted a small bug the size of a fingernail from the muscle of his lower abdomen. The bug was already dead, but its barbed legs had deeply embedded themselves into the muscle. When it was pulled out, it tore away several muscle fibers, clearly demonstrating their strength.

The bug was located in relatively shallow muscle tissue, so there wouldn’t be too much blood, but there were too many of them. If each bug created a wound, Heixiao would end up looking like a honeycomb. Therefore, he had to instruct Su Wan to use a method of subcutaneous cutting; after entering through one wound, he would maneuver the forceps under the skin to extract the surrounding bugs.

Of course, without endoscopic equipment, many of the bugs that were pulled out often came with bits of flesh. This procedure was somewhat akin to liposuction, and without anesthesia, it was easy to lead to cardiac and respiratory failure.

Not long after, Su Wan saw Heixiao grimace in discomfort and say, “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. In a while, my body will absorb them on its own.”

Su Wan sighed in relief, collapsing onto the ground, his hands covered in blood. The pile of bloody, mangled bugs on the floor made him feel nauseous; for the first time, he felt that sometimes giving up halfway could be a form of relief.

“You really are the most extreme person I’ve ever seen when it comes to having no stance.” He used to think it was ridiculous that some people fainted at the sight of blood or vomited when they saw it, but now he felt he could empathize.

Heixiao trembled all over and asked, “Do you have any bandages?”

Su Wan rummaged through a bag the size of a DSLR camera and pulled out a roll of bandages.

“You really brought a lot of stuff with you. How do you view your life? Did you draw lots for a storage bag when you were a kid?” Heixiao glanced at the empty cigarette pack and dejectedly tossed it aside.

“I can’t tell you,” Su Wan replied, pulling out something that resembled underwear from the small bag and shaking it. “Turns out it was wise to pack things in waterproof layers; everything here is dry.”

“What is that?” Heixiao laughed, only to realize it was an adult diaper.

“Do you need it? It must be very inconvenient for you to go to the bathroom right now,” Su Wan said, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the small bag. “This is my last stash.”

“Having cigarettes is like having a blessing,” Heixiao said.

The two of them sat side by side against the wall, with Heixiao tightly wrapping his wound with the bandage. As he smoked, color gradually returned to his face.

Aside from some areas on his limbs, the more dangerous bugs inside him had been extracted, so at least he didn’t have to worry about infections in his internal organs. The bugs in his limbs could cause inflammation, but the risk of amputation now seemed minimal.

“Why did you lie to her?” After a moment of silence, Su Wan asked again, “What is really going to happen here?”

“You really are persistent,” Heixiao exhaled a smoke ring, watching it dissipate in the air. “She has her own path to walk, and we have ours. You should worry more about yourself.” Using all his strength, he began to stand up, staggering as he took a couple of steps.

It’s truly a heavy loss. Why is it that every time I do a good deed like Lei Feng, I encounter such tragic consequences, yet when I engage in morally reprehensible actions, I often end up reaping great rewards? Am I being deceived by both Xie Yuchen and Wu Xie together?

He found it quite interesting. He rarely ignores the details and simply agrees to do something for others. If he is part of a plan, he must understand the plan itself very well, whether it concerns his own part or someone else’s.

This time was unique; he was involved in something he knew nothing about, with the only reason being: “Just trust him.”

He hoped what he was doing wasn’t a foolish act. If this endeavor failed, then the Wu family and Xie Yuchen would be blacklisted in his eyes.

“Let’s go find your other classmate. He should have completed his mission by now. We need to clean up the battlefield and wait for everyone to gather.”

“Mission?”

“A good plan has no useless people, nor does it have useful ones.” He stepped outside, took a few breaths, pointed in a direction that was different from Liang Wan’s but not opposite.

He wanted to move, but the pain made his vision blur. He had to readjust his stamina. Taking a few deep breaths, he said to Su Wan, “Now we have two tasks. The first and foremost is that we need to survive. The second task is that, if possible, we need to rescue the others as well. They are about to start cleaning the room, and right now we are like cockroaches in a corner, ready to be crushed and swept away in an instant. The farce needs to end. If you don’t want to die, don’t stop for a moment.”

Su Wan came up to support him, and the two of them walked out. After about a dozen steps, Su Wan asked, “Have you ever seen a cockroach moving that slowly? I don’t think it’s very useful if we don’t stop for a moment.” The man in black glasses could only smile wryly. Su Wan then asked, “The other classmate you mentioned, is it Li Cu or Yang Zi? What’s his mission?”

The man in black glasses replied, “It’s not a tree, it’s fruit. Yang Hao’s mission is to prepare an escape route for us in advance.”

“Yang Hao has the layout of all the exits here, and he will mark them for us, though it will be passive.” The blind man put away the glow stick and then pulled out a spray can from his lower back, starting to spray around them. They saw a strange trail formed by glowing particles on the floor of the corridor.

It was a patchy trail of blood, emitting a strange light. The bloodstains were very small, like distant stars seen in the night sky, but in the darkness, the bloodstains were still very clear.

“Is it the luminescent ammonia luminol reaction?” Su Wan said. “Is he injured?” (Note: Luminol is a relatively stable chemical reagent used to identify bloodstains that have been cleaned and are very old.)

“You’re really a good student; it’s quite ironic that China’s exam-oriented education can actually work for practical talents when it encounters them. It seems that the differences among individuals have a greater impact on educational outcomes than the educational methods themselves,” said Heixiazi. “Before he jumped into the pool, he had four very small but vascular injuries on his body. Without professional treatment, the bleeding wouldn’t stop, but the amount of blood lost in a short time wouldn’t be fatal. His clothes absorbed water and had a strong dripping effect, so the blood would have flowed all the way without stopping.” He made a gesture: “This trail of blood will lead us to where he escaped, saving us the time of searching.”

“How could he have a blueprint, and how could he have discarded it while escaping?” Su Wan asked, somewhat puzzled.

Heixiazi replied, “Do you think Liang Wan and he managed to escape into the pool by chance?”

1916 Chapter 5 – The exquisite dice and the red beans, do you know the longing that penetrates to the bone?

Xiaohua later sent him a document containing some real but trivial information about Heixiazi. As Wu Xie read it, he felt the slow disappearance of a person’s divinity. For Xiaohua, there was a segment of her life that was incomprehensibly missing, forever shrouded in mystery before outsiders. This mystery was difficult for Xiaohua herself to explain.

Thus, she managed to preserve her divinity. However, everything about Heixiazi, from being completely unknown to now being known, seemed to be causing his divinity to collapse. Understanding and getting closer to someone can take away a person’s charm.

This was Wu Xie’s belief, and he somewhat enjoyed the process until he discovered the hidden aspects of this document.

During university, a girl once asked Wu Xie a question: “Why don’t you celebrate your birthday?”

Wu Xie was unwilling to celebrate his birthday; he felt that his life didn’t need a scale. A birthday seemed like a notification system, constantly reminding him that even if he did nothing, time would not pause for him. His response at the time was, “Why celebrate a birthday?”

“Because there is only one day in the year that is your birthday!” The girl found it somewhat amusing.

Wu Xie replied, “Any day in a year is unique.”

He was surprised by the philosophical nature of his own words, feeling as if they were spoken through him by someone else. Although this statement earned him the nickname “Pretentious Xie” and made him a peculiar presence among girls, he still felt that it expressed a truth often overlooked in the world.

Whether it be time or people, each individual has their own uniqueness. A person does not lose anything simply by being understood, just as any ordinary day in a year, any ordinary second, is unique and irreplaceable.

Existence itself is already impressive; everything beyond existence is trivial and insignificant.

Wu Xie did not finish reading the information about Heixiazi; he only reached one conclusion: this person was very simple, to the point of being unrecognizable in that simplicity.

Sitting on the short horse, Wu Xie unconsciously recalled many memories. He was very familiar with the surrounding snow-capped mountains; although he had not traveled this route often, each journey left a profound impression.

The bell on the horse’s neck would jingle violently every time they approached a steep slope, pulling him back from his chaotic thoughts.

However, every time he looked up and saw the distant snow-capped mountains drawing closer, all that chaos would be forcibly stripped away.

They traveled in silence, and by the time he entered Motuo, he felt he had completely forgotten everything outside the mountains.

He warmed himself at the last pass, drank plenty of butter tea, and realized that three days had passed. He still hadn’t received any further information from Beijing or the desert. He knew that it was impossible for everything to go smoothly; obstacles and counterattacks must have already arrived.

He had to survive. From this moment on, all dangers would come crashing down on him like a tidal wave.

This must be an extraordinarily grueling battle of encirclement. He cannot fight this battle within the city because there are too many interfering factors. Alone, with only a pair of eyes and ears, he is at a significant disadvantage in this siege.

As the battle remains unfinished, he does not know how long he can hold on, but he does not want to be patted on the shoulder in some Pizza Hut and never wake up again. In Motuo, this is the only place he has confidence to call his home ground.

The moment he enters Motuo, he is already on the battlefield. Theoretically, if the opponent has the fastest reaction speed, his arrival in Motuo coincides perfectly with the opponent’s quickest interception time.

They can only be faster. Wu Xie thinks of that large Jeep Cherokee convoy; in fact, any vehicle that overtakes them on the road could potentially be his enemy.

He hides behind the black tinted film, but ultimately cannot escape what happens after getting out of the car…

He recalls his uncle’s message. After understanding all of his uncle’s intentions, he has an epiphany about the last sentence that strikes him like an electric shock.

He comprehends the meaning behind everything his uncle has done. It seems like countless pieces in a game of dominoes, or raw materials, scattered in unexpected places, waiting to be put into action.

This is very similar to the approach taken during the underground work years ago. We do not know which person will ultimately be the key to the whole plan, but we do not care. I just bury those raw materials everywhere, without any logic, like the first 30 moves in a game of Go, chaotic and aimless.

But opportunities will arise when things become so chaotic that the opponent cannot keep up.

The meaningless disordered moves he makes in Motuo are the clearest in Wu Xie’s heart; it is only here that he feels he might still have a chance to survive.

That midnight, he returned to the lama temple, back to his room. The lama had prepared snacks, but he did not eat. Instead, he climbed up to the beams, where he had left a bottle of liquor when he departed.

He climbed down, took a sip, tucked it into his coat, and stepped out, heading toward the snow-capped mountains.

He carried nothing with him, no professional equipment, no warm clothing, and walked straight toward the snow-capped mountains. For two days, this bottle of liquor was his only sustenance.

He felt as if someone was around him; the sensation of being watched sent chills down his spine as he trudged through the snow.

However, there was nothing around. At the edge of the cliff, he could hear the howling of the wind, but that was all.

At one moment, Wu Xie wondered if he had mythologized the opponent’s abilities. Even if they could manipulate very small details, it didn’t necessarily mean they could perfectly keep pace in such a brutal battle of wits.

At this moment, perhaps they had already been led several streets away, or maybe they still did not know they had arrived in Motuo. Perhaps they were currently stuck on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway due to a mudslide.

He was deep in thought when suddenly he heard a noise behind him. In an instant, someone covered his mouth from behind, and a dagger sliced across his neck, hot blood rushing up his throat.

He was pushed to the ground and saw a person standing behind him, dressed in a white down jacket—just one person. He had never seen this person before; where did they come from?

“Having set such a grand plan for himself, did the other party only send one person to casually eliminate him?
Blood continued to pour from Wu Xie’s severed throat as the young man who had slit his throat looked at him coldly, without any expression.
He was there to confirm his death.
Wu Xie covered his neck, crawled back a few steps, and with his last ounce of strength, stood up and rolled backward into the cliff.”

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