With a splash, the water instantly submerged up to their knees.
Looking around inside to ensure safety, Zhi Xian then looked up and said, “Come on down.”
Tong Xiaosong felt a warmth in his heart. He lowered his leg into the hole and before he could jump down, he felt the other person’s arm coming to assist him.
With a slight tremble in his heart, he swayed and jumped sideways. With another splash, the water submerged half of his thighs.
“You…” Zhi Xian sighed helplessly, “Who knows what’s in this water, it’s so dirty…”
Tong Xiaosong waded over and held onto his partner’s arm, smiling, “If you’re not afraid of getting dirty, why should I be?” He looked around, “Is this an abandoned cave? Why dig a hole here?”
Zhi Xian helplessly said, “It’s not a cave, it’s a grave…”
Tong Xiaosong: …?
Suddenly, he regretted jumping down. Could there be corpses soaking in this water?
Zhi Xian chuckled lightly, “Regretting it already?”
Tong Xiaosong: “…a bit. Is He Bing in here? What is he doing in a grave? Was he… blinded by something? Is that why he came here?”
Zhi Xian shook his head and waved the flashlight around, “He’s probably here for grave robbing. He should be thankful the police didn’t follow him, otherwise he’d seamlessly transition into prison.”
The two waded through the water, and the smell became more pungent.
Even Tong Xiaosong could now smell the pungent odor mentioned by Zhi Xian.
It didn’t quite resemble a regular stench; it was an indescribable smell.
Like densely packed needles, it stabbed at their brains with each breath, highly aggressive.
Zhi Xian: “Looks like there’s a coffin over there. Be careful, let’s go take a look.”
Tong Xiaosong immediately became cautious: “Got it!”
As they approached the coffin, its lid was tattered, and they could vaguely see something lying inside.
Zhi Xian furrowed his brow: “Take two steps back, I’ll open the lid.”
Tong Xiaosong hurriedly stepped back.
Zhi Xian swiftly lifted the lid, shining his flashlight into the coffin.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf cfza wbwfca, tf fzmijlwfv, “Lf Dlcu?”
Kbcu Wljbrbcu jirb rjk Lf Dlcu lcrlvf atf mboolc, vgfrrfv lc mjreji mibatfr.
Lf Dlcu’r mbwqifzlbc kjr qjif, tlr ybvs raloo, gfrfwyilcu j mbgqrf.
Kbcu Wljbrbcu mjealberis jrxfv, “Pr… Pr tf vfjv?”
Itl Wljc gfjmtfv bea jcv ufcais qgbyfv, ktlrqfglcu, “Lf’r ralii ygfjatlcu.”
Tong Xiaosong sighed in relief and stepped forward: “Should we carry him out?”
“Wait a moment,” Zhi Xian carefully observed He Bing and said, “There seems to be something in his mouth. Can you hand me the flashlight?”
Tong Xiaosong took the flashlight and illuminated He Bing’s face.
Zhi Xian reached out and pried open He Bing’s mouth, revealing a jade bead beneath the base of his tongue.
He tore off a piece of cloth from his shirt, padded his hand, and extracted the jade bead from He Bing’s mouth.
In an instant, He Bing’s gasping intensified.
He suddenly opened his eyes wide, gasping violently as if he hadn’t breathed for a long time.
“Ah cough cough cough cough—cough!”
He Bing climbed up in a disheveled and feeble manner: “Where… where am I? Am I still alive?”
As he spoke, there was a splash, and He Bing fell into the water.
Zhi Xian held the jade bead in one hand and took a step back with Tong Xiaosong in the other, watching He Bing struggle to stand up in the dirty water.
In a calm tone, Zhi Xian asked, “Awake now?”
He Bing wiped his face and glanced around: “Fuck… I’m awake. Thank goodness you guys came, I thought I was going to die here. Let’s go! This place is cursed!”
Zhi Xian wrapped the jade bead in the cloth and casually stuffed it into his pocket.
He first lifted Tong Xiaosong out of the cave opening, then climbed up himself.
Turning to help He Bing, he said, “We called the police as soon as we received your call. They’re waiting at the foot of the mountain. You better figure out how to explain things to them.”
He Bing emerged from the opening, indifferent. “That’s easy to explain. I’ll just make a call to their boss. The most important thing is to leave here quickly.”
As the three descended the mountain, seeing He Bing’s hurried steps, Zhi Xian asked in confusion, “What happened to you?”
“I can’t explain,” He Bing waved his hand. “Let’s not dwell on that. Once we’re down the mountain, I’ll treat you to some drinks to warm up. I really appreciate you guys rescuing me tonight.”
***
After tossing and turning until the early hours, Zhi Xian and Tong Xiaosong finally returned home.
After a hot shower, Tong Xiaosong wrapped himself in a blanket and leaned against the bed, feeling the warmth finally seeping in.
Watching Zhi Xian emerge from the bathroom, he curiously asked, “Why does He Bing seem so strange?”
Zhi Xian dried his hair and scoffed, “He’s a grave robber. He’s afraid of getting into trouble, so he kept changing the subject.”
“Grave robbing?” Tong Xiaosong was shocked. No wonder He Bing seemed so evasive and in a hurry. That’s practically like being a thief.
Zhi Xian said, “Next time he calls, let’s just report him to the police. We shouldn’t get involved in such shady activities. Otherwise, we’ll encounter very difficult situations.”
Tong Xiaosong asked in confusion, “What do you mean by very difficult situations?”
Zhi Xian took the towel off his head and draped it over Tong Xiaosong’s still-dripping hair. As he gently rubbed it, he said, “Our aura can attract strange things. It’s already inclined towards Yin energy, and if we get involved in extremely negative activities, a quantitative change might lead to a qualitative change. We might encounter things that are unpredictable.”
Thinking about the strange occurrences they had encountered before, Tong Xiaosong couldn’t help but shiver involuntarily.
***
At night, after entwining with each other and falling asleep, they were once again awakened by a phone call.
Zhi Xian and Tong Xiaosong almost simultaneously opened their eyes.
Tong Xiaosong: “It couldn’t be He Bing again, could it?”
Zhi Xian picked up the phone and glanced at it, saying, “It’s an unknown number.”
After answering, he put it on speaker.
From the other end of the call came the sound of rushing water.
Tong Xiaosong’s face turned pale. This sound of water seemed familiar, eerily resembling the one from the incident where Ke Lin met with an accident, when Wen Dong called, and they heard the sound from the other end of the line.
It sounded like being submerged in water, constantly floating up and down, but with some differences.
Zhi Xian furrowed his brow and said, “Who are you? Speak up.”
As the water sound faded away in the call, a somewhat ethereal and plaintive female voice came through.
“My belongings are missing, give them back to me…”
There was a moment of silence before Zhi Xian asked, “Is it about the jade bead?”
Only then did Tong Xiaosong remember the jade bead forgotten in his pocket along with Zhi Xian. Now, that pile of dirty clothes was sitting in the trash bin.
If this call had come a day later, the jade bead would have been gone for good.
“Give it back to me…”
After the voice trailed off, the sound of water resurfaced for a few seconds before the call was disconnected.
Zhi Xian felt a pang of regret. “I should have thrown that thing into the grave. I had the chance back then… sigh.”
Tong Xiaosong reassured, “It’s okay, we’ll return it tomorrow during the day. I’ll go get the bead.”
As he was about to get out of bed, the phone vibrated again, startling him, thinking that unknown entity was calling again.
Zhi Xian glanced at the phone and smirked, “It’s from He Bing this time.”
As soon as the call was answered, there was a smirk from He Bing’s end, “Um… could you accompany me back to the mountains tomorrow?”
Pretending not to know, Zhi Xian asked, “Why?”
He Bing replied, “I picked up a hairpin there, and just dreamed I was chased by a ghost. I want to return it…”
“Picked up?” Zhi Xian’s tone turned cold, questioning the choice of words.
The use of the word ‘picked up’ was clever, but Zhi Xian had no intention of continuing to pretend to be clueless.
There was silence from He Bing’s end for a few seconds before he spoke, “Okay, it wasn’t ‘picked up.’ It was intentionally taken. When a few of us went into the grave together, after we took the items, we found unidentified creatures in the water. The others were all killed. I managed to stay clear-headed and climbed into a coffin to call for help.”
Tong Xiaosong listened nervously beside them, feeling a chill run down his spine at the words. What did it mean that the others were all killed?
Had there been casualties?
Zhi Xian’s voice turned cold, “So why do you want to return it now? Don’t just say it’s just a simple dream. I feel like you’re not afraid of these things. Tell us the real reason.”
“Heh…” He Bing let out a deep sigh, “You’ll know when we meet.”
