Night was falling.
It was 11 p.m.
Harvey Chen and the others sat in a circle, surrounded by piles of empty instant food wrappers.
Zane Wang glanced at Evan Lin, who hadn't moved since 7 p.m., his eyes full of suspicion.
Just this level of composure alone already surpasses most people.
This time, our main goal is bow-hunting. According to what I've heard, a batch of fierce beasts has appeared in Thornridge Mountain. The usual king of the mountain was a six-hundred-pound Boarzilla, but now, rumor has it, a bunch of zongzi have shown up.
Zane Wang lowered his voice, pulled out a map from his bag, and spread it on the ground.
This map is almost identical to Evan Lin's, except it doesn't have as many markings.
We're here at Oxhorn Village, then tomorrow we'll follow the mountain path, cross two ridges, and reach a ruined temple. We'll spend the night there, and the next day, after crossing one more peak, we'll arrive at the tomb.
Zane Wang pointed at a spot on the map. As he spoke, he glanced in Evan Lin's direction, saw that Evan wasn't reacting, and didn't worry about it.
When they say bow-hunting, they're not talking about normal hunting—they mean corpse-hunting.
It's a kind of slang. Corpse-hunters used to be called tomb guardians—most imperial tombs had families like this, passing down the job for generations.
On the one hand, they protected the tombs from outsiders digging tunnels or robbing graves, disturbing the emperor’s peace. On the other, they kept the tomb’s corpses from appearing in the world.
Most imperial tombs had thousands of buried attendants, most of whom died with resentment and became refined corpses over time—known as zongzi.
Back in the day, Xiangxi had a profession called corpse-driving. Most so-called corpse-drivers weren’t the real thing. The genuine ones, usually from tomb-guardian families, lived lonely lives, using death arts to drive corpses, walking between yin and yang, earning a bit of incense money so they could be reborn well next time.
Is this tomb really that mysterious? Last time we opened King Zhao’s tomb, it wasn’t nearly this weird. That place was remote, sure, and there were nights full of howling ghosts and wolves, but it wasn’t as scary as this whole mountain.
The terrain here is a severed tail of a yin dragon—mountains and rivers cut off right here, and where the tail points is the tomb.
Yeah, we can check out that spot first tomorrow.' Zane Wang nodded and looked at Bella Xiao, his gaze soft. 'Bella, any thoughts?'
Nope, I'm easy.' Bella Xiao nodded slightly. Her delicate face showed no other emotion, but as she spoke, she subconsciously glanced at Evan Lin sitting nearby.
Zane Wang noticed this, frowned for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.
Time ticked by, second after second.
Just as they finished talking and were about to rest—
Evan Lin, who'd been sitting motionless, slowly opened his eyes.
At the same moment, the Three Maiden Spirits beside him snapped upright, their eyes locked on the front doors of the Charity Mortuary.
Thump, thump...
Outside the mortuary, the night was thick, white mist swirling.
The closed doors began to make a strange noise.
"What's that sound?"
Leo Liu stood up. Everyone's gaze swept across the courtyard, staring at the mortuary's main doors.
The eight coffins in the courtyard sat cold and silent in the darkness.
Thump, thump...
Another soft sound echoed through the room.
Someone was knocking on the mortuary door, the sound barely audible.
Each knock seemed to land right on their hearts.
"Ignore it. No matter what happens, don't go outside."
Zane Wang frowned, his face serious. He pulled an oil lamp from his bag, lit it, and set it in the corner.
The flame had just caught.
Whoosh.
A gust of wind blew through and snuffed it out instantly.
"Claire, what are you doing?" Zane Wang blinked in confusion, looking at Claire Liang sitting beside him.
That gust of wind just now could only have come from Claire Liang over here.
"I'm looking for my talismans. I brought a few spirit-focusing talismans before we left, but weird, I can't find them. I swear I put them right here."
Claire Liang rummaged through her bag.
"You didn't blow it out?" Zane Wang's expression changed slightly. He looked at the others: Harvey Chen looked tense, Leo Liu's face was pale, and Bella Xiao was bowing her head, making a shushing gesture and frowning as she pointed at the ground beside Zane.
A shadow?
Zane Wang looked down and saw a long black shadow dragging across the floor beside him.
One, two, three, four, five...
Six?
Six shadows!
Zane Wang had Bella Xiao on his right, Claire Liang on his left, Harvey Chen and Leo Liu across from him—the five of them sat in a circle.
The other boy was sitting alone a bit further away, so his shadow shouldn't be here with theirs!
So whose shadow is the extra one?
Zane Wang's mind buzzed.
The whole mortuary hall was getting heavier and heavier.
"Found them!"
Claire Liang hadn't noticed anything strange, still rummaging through her bag.
Finally, she found a stack of yellow talisman papers in her bag and smiled in relief.
There were about ten of them—yellow paper, with deep red cinnabar mixed with black dog’s blood painted in patterns on top.
"These ten spirit-focusing talismans took me forever to get from my grandma. Here, take one each, just hold it in your hand."
"One spirit-focusing talisman will keep you sharp for six hours—enough for two nights."
Spirit-focusing talismans are said to boost your energy. A normal person holding one could stay up all night without feeling tired.
"One for you, one for you, one for you, one for you, and one for you."
"And one for me."
Claire Liang placed a talisman in front of each person. When she was done, her face froze. "Five people, ten talismans—so there should be six left, but now there's only five?"
Claire looked up in confusion, finally noticing the heavy silence around her.
Someone extra?
A jolt ran through Claire's heart. She glanced at the floor—six shadows.
Someone extra?
Is it that boy?
Claire looked up. The boy who'd been sitting on the mat was now standing, hands behind his back, face calm—he wasn't even over here.
Claire glanced at the floor beside the boy and saw his shadow.
The real question is...
At the same time, Zane Wang and the others realized something terrifying.
Inside the mortuary, there was no electricity and no lights.
The moonlight outside couldn't get through the roof.
It was already past eleven at night.
So how could there be any shadows at all?
Thump, thump, thump...
Another round of knocking came from outside the door.
Whoever was knocking didn't seem the least bit rushed.