Graveyard

Yi Chen, after reading through the rules one by one, could roughly determine that the world he had transmigrated into was mixed with 'abnormal' elements not present in his original world.

At the same time, an unknown crisis was steadily closing in.

But he still had a sliver of hope.

Following the hint from the last rule, Yi Chen bent down to look under the wooden plank bed.

He shifted aside the movable floor panel and, from the recess, pulled out a hand axe of moderate weight.

"So this is the so-called self-defense tool?"

The handle, made of Hickory Wood, had grooves carved into its surface to increase friction—

lightweight, tough, and not easy to lose grip.

The axe head, forged from Carbon Steel, was flawless to the eye.

It had undergone a special sharpening process, making it exceptionally sharp, and the blade was plated with silver—

gleaming, hard, and devastatingly destructive.

Whoosh—when he tried a test swing, it cut through the air with a faint whistling sound.

This exquisitely crafted hand axe brought an inexplicable sense of security, easing his tense mood just a little.

"Not a bad self-defense weapon..."

After a brief warm-up, he returned to the desk.

"According to the suicide note, this guy's fatal mistake was breaking the [Third Rule]—

that is, during his patrol of Graveyard Plot 4, he failed to notice the changes in the number and order of the tombstones."

Yi Chen bit his fingernail.

Now he faced an important decision—

whether to stay in the cabin and wait for danger to come to him, or to head to the graveyard alone, face the danger head-on, and break through the predicament.

"Better to be proactive... According to what's written in the rules, maybe only by restoring Graveyard Plot 4 can the crisis be completely eliminated. Just staying in the cabin and doing nothing is probably just waiting to die."

Yi Chen tried to treat the situation before him as a trial after transmigration.

But, before setting out, he still had a series of preparations to make.

First, using his fairly sharp mind, he committed to memory the Cemetery Map, the Blueprint of Graveyard Plot 4 in the appendix, and the organization's insignia.

Next, he put on the Work Clothes folded at the foot of the bed.

It was a dark gray overcoat, somewhere between a raincoat and a trench coat, with a loose hood that could cover half his face, concealing his features in the darkness.

"This coat fits way too perfectly... I've never worn such a comfortable jacket. Was it custom-made?"

The overcoat didn't restrict his movement at all; instead, it made his body movements even smoother.

He also found a Metal Badge on the left chest, stamped with the original owner's name—[William. Berens].

Everything was ready.

Just before stepping out the iron door, he tried using the Telephone on the wall beside it.

But, the receiver only emitted harsh static; the phone line seemed to be damaged, unable to contact the outside.

"Probably because of the violation, the 'Administrator' up there has cut off contact with this place... Time to go."

Creak Creak

The door hinges turned, like an old man letting out a series of hoarse warnings from deep in his throat.

Yi Chen stood at the entrance, alert to any danger that might come.

Seconds passed.

The only thing that arrived was the nauseating stench of rotten flesh mixed with soil.

The moon tonight was completely blocked out; the only light was the Kerosene Lamp in his hand.

"It seems the [danger] hasn't come looking for me yet. That's a good thing... Time to start exploring."

The silver-gleaming axe was held in his right hand, hanging by his thigh, the Kerosene Lamp held level in front of his chest with his left hand.

Dressed in the dark gray overcoat, Yi Chen had fully assumed the identity of a "graveyard keeper," beginning his first exploration of the cemetery.

First, as depicted on the map, the wooden cabin called the [Safe House] sits at the center of the cemetery, with Graveyard Plots 1 through 6 surrounding it on all sides.

A three-meter-tall wrought-iron fence, open to the air, separates the different numbered plots, keeping them from disturbing one another.

The cramped paths between the graves allow at most one corpse cart to pass through, twisted branches growing wildly overhead meet, blotting out the night sky, shrouding the entire cemetery... If the wooden cabin before was like a small coffin, then this cemetery is the great coffin.

Yi Chen felt his heart race under the weight of such an oppressive environment, even imagining a pale foot following behind him, and every branch turning into an arm reaching for his shoulder.

Hmm...

He took a deep breath.

When he was little, he'd heard people at the Orphanage say that when passing through eerie places at night, you must never look back, or you might invite unclean things onto yourself.

So he kept his gaze straight ahead the whole time, at most turning his head at a 45-degree angle.

Following the route from the map in his memory, he soon arrived at the iron gate of Graveyard Plot 4.

However, a thought popped into his head.

"I've been moving through the cemetery for several minutes... creepy and oppressive, but at least I haven't run into danger or seen any unclean things.

The danger in Graveyard Plot 4 drove someone to suicide—it won't be easy to deal with.

I'll probably need to run, fight a guerrilla war.

Why not walk through the whole cemetery first, get familiar with the area, figure out escape and hiding routes and spots—Hmm! Let's do that."

He temporarily left Graveyard Plot 4, and began touring the entire cemetery in a clockwise direction.

The passage of time helped him gradually adapt to the cemetery's atmosphere, and he also noticed some interesting details and planned elements within the cemetery.

Different numbered plots had different characteristics.

For example, Graveyard Plot 1 uniformly used stone arched tombstones, with clean steps and stone-paved paths, giving a tidy and comfortable feel.

Next door, Graveyard Plot 2 used oak cross-shaped tombstones, tilted and scattered, overgrown with weeds... the whole place was extremely eerie, and the temperature even felt 10°C colder.

The path was smooth, with no danger encountered, and following the order, he arrived at the last plot, Graveyard Plot 6.

The soil here was unusually damp, every step felt like stepping into a mud pit, the soles of his shoes sinking at least two centimeters.

The tombstones here were all piled from stones, with no records of the deceased's life information.

"Hmm... what's that?"

His fairly sharp observation let him notice a detail, near the corner of Graveyard Plot 6, a tombstone made of piled stones lay scattered on the ground, as if something had destroyed it.

He carried his axe over to check, walking two circles around the Grave Mound, but found nothing unusual.

Maybe it was because he was fully immersed in his current role, or maybe out of respect for the dead, after confirming there was no danger, Yi Chen crouched down, reassembled the scattered stones, and restored the tombstone.

Before leaving, he instinctively pressed his palms together and gave a slight bow.

However, he hadn't taken two steps yet.

A strange sound came from behind him.

§Thank you§

That voice was odd, as if it blended the voices of many people, rising and falling, piercing straight into the organs.

Yi Chen spun around instantly, raising the axe to shield himself.

Yet, the cemetery behind him was completely calm, unchanged.

"Am I too tense, having auditory hallucinations? No... I definitely heard it."

Supernatural things did exist here—but that voice of thanks just now didn't seem hostile.

Best to avoid trouble and focus on the most pressing issue first.

Yi Chen quickly retreated from Graveyard Plot 6, which felt as sticky and heavy as mud.

By now, aside from Graveyard Plot 7, set apart at the edge for storing and handling unidentified corpses, he had a general grasp of the cemetery's layout, and had already mapped out the best escape and detour routes in his head.

Next, he needed to confront the problematic Graveyard Plot 4 head-on.

Not long after Yi Chen left, in Graveyard Plot 6, the grave mound he had just repaired suddenly showed signs of loosening soil.

A mouth chewing on coffin lid fragments, covered in damp earth, emerged from the ground, and it seemed to hold an eye in its mouth, as if it could see through layers of fences and plants, watching the 'helpful' young man.

Thank you all for your support. Like before, the new book will have two updates daily, around 17:00 and 22:00 (one update on Sunday). This story is entirely original, making it more difficult to write, so I hope you can be a bit more forgiving. When it's time for extra chapters, I'll still deliver them.