Jiang Xiaosi felt her body ache. When she looked down, she discovered that at some point, her legs had become entwined with green vines that had wrapped around her while she was on the sofa. That must’ve been what woke her up. She looked closer and saw that the vines had broken through the wooden floor, growing up from beneath the house. She freed herself and rushed to Long Wanqiu’s room, finding the door half open but no one inside. She quickly went back to wake Shen Mo and the others, but they all seemed to be in an unusually deep sleep, and it took quite a while to rouse them.
When Shen Mo finally woke up, he checked the leftovers in the kitchen. “It’s the pollen from the Bai Zhai flower. It has sedative properties. Too much can cause unconsciousness. We let our guard down.”
“Xiaosi, why weren’t you affected?” Xiao Tang asked curiously, remembering that she had eaten the most at dinner.
“Uh…” Jiang Xiaosi couldn’t exactly tell them she was only half-human and that things affecting humans worked on her at half-strength.
“How should I know? I was woken up by those vines. If they’d wrapped around my neck instead, I might’ve suffocated in my sleep. If Long Wanqiu wanted to kill us, she could’ve just poisoned us or stabbed us while we were sleeping. Why use such a complicated method?”
Xiao Tang looked at Lin Qiang. “Lin Team, what now? Long Wanqiu and Yang Yan must have fled in a panic, but it’s dark, and the mountain paths are treacherous. They probably couldn’t have gotten far. Should we give chase?”
Lin Qiang thought it over, but Jiang Xiaosi quickly added, “What if they want us to think they’ve fled but are actually hiding nearby? When I woke up earlier, I heard noises coming from beneath the floor.” Of course, Jiang Xiaosi couldn’t admit it was the sound of breathing that she had detected.
“Noises?” Lin Qiang asked.
The group began another thorough search, and they eventually uncovered a hidden entrance at the bottom of a wooden chest.
Lin Qiang and Xiao Tang took the lead, each holding a flashlight, while Jiang Xiaosi and Shen Mo followed closely behind. Despite her young age, Jiang Xiaosi moved with agility, easily keeping pace with them through the mountains without a single complaint. Lin Qiang, who had initially feared she might slow them down, was surprised to find that the weakest link in their group was actually Xiao Tang.
Xiao Tang, meanwhile, felt embarrassed and stayed right behind Jiang Xiaosi, weaving through the narrow, dark tunnels, feeling a little spooked.
Shen Mo hadn’t expected the underground tunnels to be so deep and long, with several branching paths. They made sure to mark their way as they progressed.
However, after over ten minutes of walking, they found themselves continuously looping through the tunnels. No matter how they turned, they couldn’t find an exit, and even the entrance seemed to have vanished.
Lin Qiang came to a stop. “Looks like we’ve been tricked.”
Jiang Xiaosi suggested, “Could it be that this entrance is a decoy?”
Shen Mo shook his head. “Unlikely. The place where we first came down showed signs of recent activity. We must have taken the wrong path. This place isn’t that large, but it’s been constructed like a maze. Without knowing the way, it’s easy to get lost.”
Xiao Tang checked his phone. “No signal. Looks like we’re stuck here.”
“No way! There’s air flow, so there has to be an exit somewhere.” Jiang Xiaosi said with determination. She had raided too many tombs in her life to let herself be trapped by a mere tunnel.
Shen Mo inspected their surroundings more carefully and noticed some vines similar to the ones that had been on the sofa earlier, climbing up the walls.
Following the direction the vines were growing, they moved forward. After a short distance, the vines disappeared into the earthen walls. Shen Mo took out a Luoyang shovel from his sandalwood box and dug into the wall.
“It’s hollow.”
They all pitched in to dig, eventually creating a large hole that revealed an empty chamber.
“The soil here is so rich. No wonder the plants grow so well. I’ve never seen soil this fertile.” Jiang Xiaosi remarked as she crawled into the chamber and dusted off the dirt. “Looks like a burial chamber?”
Shen Mo examined the room by the light of their flashlights. The corners were filled with firewood, grain, fertilizer, and various other supplies, making it seem more like a storage room. Satisfied that there were no immediate threats, they moved on to the next chamber.
“Longpan Mountain is known for its feng shui, so finding a tomb here isn’t surprising. This tomb isn’t large, just one of many. Since there aren’t any valuable burial items, there aren’t many traps. The maze-like tunnels outside were probably the only defense, originally designed to flood when triggered. That mechanism seems to have been damaged. Long Wanqiu’s grandfather likely discovered this place long ago and built his house on top of the tomb. It would’ve been difficult to find Yang Yan hiding down here.”
In the next chamber, they found shelves full of flower pots, each holding rare and exotic plants. Some of the plants emitted a soft glow in the darkness, making the room look like a magical garden. Some of the pots hung from the ceiling, overflowing with colorful blossoms, and the air was filled with a mixture of different floral fragrances, creating an almost dizzying effect.
Jiang Xiaosi’s mouth dropped open as she let out a string of awestruck exclamations. “These were all cultivated by hand? Long Wanqiu is amazing!”
Suddenly, the chamber was flooded with light. The group turned to see Xiao Tang standing sheepishly by the wall. “I-I just found the light switch. The place has electricity.”
In that instant, Lin Qiang caught sight of a white figure darting through the doorway.
“Long Wanqiu! Stop right there! Don’t run!” Lin Qiang drew his gun and gave chase, and the others quickly followed.
“Stop, or I’ll shoot!” Lin Qiang shouted, seeing Long Wanqiu reach for something that looked like a switch. He fired a shot at her feet. Long Wanqiu raised her hands, freezing in place.
The gunshot echoed through the tomb, and Jiang Xiaosi covered her ears. Shen Mo stepped in front of her protectively, but she peeked out from behind him to see what was happening.
Long Wanqiu remained eerily calm as she slowly turned around to face the four of them.
“Where’s Yang Yan?” Lin Qiang approached her cautiously, gun still raised. He handcuffed her and motioned for Xiao Tang to search the other rooms.
“I won’t let you take him away.” Long Wanqiu said softly, her gaze as gentle as ever. “It took so much for him to finally return to me.”
“But he killed Ye Miao. A life for a life!” Jiang Xiaosi said, remembering the photo of Ye Miao’s vibrant, youthful face. Even as a ghost, Ye Miao was still relentlessly searching for Yang Yan.
“She deserved it. Yang Yan and I were fine before she came along. We could have grown old together.”
Jiang Xiaosi shook her head. “Don’t deceive yourself. A man like Yang Yan isn’t worth this. If he truly loved you, he wouldn’t have been with someone else.”
“But he’s back now, and he’ll never leave me again…” Long Wanqiu lowered her head, her usual soft smile appearing on her face. Yet there was something unnervingly strange about it.
At that moment, Xiao Tang’s terrified shout echoed from another chamber. “Lin Team! You’d better come take a look!”
Lin Qiang immediately led Long Wanqiu into the main chamber. Although they had mentally prepared themselves, the scene before them still shocked everyone.
Yang Yan stood there, staring at them with empty eyes, in the very center of the burial chamber.
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